Obituary: Christopher Bulteel

THERE IS a small coastguards' cottage overlooking the sea at Mevagissey in Cornwall which is now unoccupied. But, for many years until October this year, anyone calling at the cottage would have found a humble, slightly wizened, elderly man; would have enjoyed his company, and then gone away without knowing they had been with one of the great. For Christopher Bulteel, Headmaster of Ardingly College from 1962 until 1980, honestly achieved more than most of the famous of the last 80 years, yet without recognition from the hierarchy of the land.

He was born and brought up in Cornwall, where eccentricity still thrives in the moist air and the grandeur of the coastline. He was sent to Wellington College, at a time when it was perhaps not the greatest of schools, and from there went to that great college for history, Merton College, Oxford. But this gentle, shy man strode into the Coldstream Guards in 1940 and served until the end of the Second World War. He won a Military Cross for leadership of supreme bravery in Salerno about which he was silent, except to praise his men and to rejoice at their company.

This amazing ability to lead without fuss or grandeur went all through his life. He returned in 1948 to Wellington to teach history before making the extraordinary step of becoming an Anglican Franciscan Friar at Cerne Abbas in Dorset. But he saw that there had to be a change from the crazy ways of the holy founders if the community was to survive and left to return to teaching. From then on his list of attainments and achievements mounted like the growth of a medieval cathedral, with a great variety of styles.

Chief was his union with Jenny Previte as wife and inspirer in his work, in helping in the founding of the Abbeyfield Society, the housing organisation for the elderly, and above all in his 18 years as Headmaster of Ardingly. They were the long-hair, rebellious years, but Bulteel was fascinated rather than appalled by it all, and led the school quietly and safely, whilst achieving a growth in facilities, buildings and a united staff.

A man who has time to photograph orchids and to stroll around the school in the dark, not as a spy, but in an act of thanksgiving, has a nature which can inspire and build the young. They knew too that this nature was totally moulded by the easy love Bulteel had for God. He was a Catholic Anglican, living by prayer and the sacraments, while his courage showed itself again in retirement, in that he was a brilliant churchwarden, and even survived the Deanery Synod for a few meetings.

After his retirement in 1980, he yet had the energy and flair to be a founder member of GAP (GAP Activity Projects), which he guided as director for six years. His last years were spent in Cornwall. He loved to be with his family, to drink wine and eat a meal with friends. All who shared his time came away fed by his hidden greatness. Christopher Bulteel may have been one of the last eccentrics, who could mix "Brideshead", St Francis and tough leadership and yet remain almost completely sane.

+ Peter Ball

Christopher Harris Bulteel, schoolmaster: born Charlestown, Cornwall 29 July 1921; MC 1943; assistant master, Wellington College 1949-61; Headmaster, Ardingly College 1962-80; Director, GAP Activity Projects 1982-88; married 1958 Jennifer Previte (one son, two daughters); died 11 October 1999.