Book of Remembrance

The Honourable Sir Nicholas Redmayne Bt was the son of Martin Redmayne, the Chief Whip to Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, from whom he received a Baronetcy and then a life peerage. Nick’s intake, No 22, at RMA Sandhurst 1957–58 was unusual for only two were killed in action, one by his own sentry in Aden. None of the officer cadets reached the rank of Major General, with most of the more able of them leaving the Army early on to seek their fortunes elsewhere, as did Nick. He was the intake’s most outstanding officer cadet and won the Sword of Honour. He joined the 1st Bn Grenadier Guards at Wellington Barracks before seeing service at Tidworth, the Cameroons and in Germany. The British Cameroons in 1961 was a League of Nations mandate, 400 miles long and 100 miles wide, to the east of Nigeria. Nick was the Battalion’s Signals Officer next to the seat of Government at Victoria and near the only port. It was a vital job for occasionally morse code had to be used for passing messages to Bamenda in the far north. “For most Grenadiers the tour was the greatest adventure of our lives. Most of us National Serviceman had never been abroad before. The sight and smells were unbelievable” wrote a guardsman many years later. Nick left the Grenadiers in 1962 to become a stockbroker playing a key role in developing Kleinwort Benson as one of London’s leading home-grown investment banks of the ‘Big Bang’ era. He had earlier made his name as a partner of Grieveson Grant selling gilts to Japanese investors. His urbane manner and lively sense of humour concealed the steely mind beneath when his grip was engaged for he was a highly effective City professional. For relaxation, he enjoyed shooting, skiing and driving fast Italian sports cars. Some ten years ago he gave a splendid lunch to a Grenadier contemporary in the Kleinwort Benson ‘tower’ which had magnificent views over the city. Nick said, to the visitor’s surprise, that he wished that he had remained in the Army.We rather wish he had done so as well; after all, Nick, you might have become our intake’s only General.