Robert Kenneth Barcham
Robert, known as Bob, was born in Wellington, New Zealand.
He is a great-great-grandson of Captain William Barcham of Mundesley and his second
wife Elizabeth Lacey. Bob's grandfather, Robert William Barcham, emigrated to New
Zealand in 1888. Bob was educated at Wellington College and was a professional musician
and music teacher from 1951 to 1986. He also had a parallel career in brass and military
bands and served for eleven years with the New Zealand Defence Forces Territorial
Army. In the 1960s he was musical director of RNZIR band with the rank of Warrant
Officer First Class.
Bob married Jean Thompson and they have a mini-dynasty with two sons, four grandsons,
three great-grandsons and a great-granddaughter. Now retired, Bob and Jean live at
Titahi Bay on the west coast, north of Wellington.
Henry Pattle (Pat) Barcham
Henry Pattle Barcham, known as Pat, was born in New Zealand.
He is a descendant of Captain William Barcham of Mundesley and a great-grandson of
Thomas Pattle of Bury St Edmunds, who emigrated to Australia in 1853. Pat qualified
as an electrical engineer, then came to England in 1957 to work at British Thomson
Houston, Rugby. While there he met Joyce (Joy) Manley whom he later married. Pat
and Joy have four children: Paul and Frances who are in New Zealand, Elizabeth and
Stephen who are in Australia.
Pat and his brother, Tom, were mountaineers, making first ascents of several peaks
in the Southern Alps of New Zealand in the 1950s. Pat joined Sir Edmund Hillary's
1959/60 Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition to search for the Yeti,
carry out high-altitude physiological research and climb some mountains. The expedition
is described in High in the Thin Cold Air by Sir Edmund Hillary and Desmond Doig.
On returning from the UK Pat worked as an Electrical Engineer with the New Zealand
Electricity Department in Dunedin and then with Mobil Oil as South Island Engineer.
After four years with Mobil Oil he worked in the building services industry in product
development, sales and marketing. In 1987 Pat returned to electrical engineering
as a consulting engineer until retirement in 2002. Joy and Pat live in Christchurch.
