Maj Simon Peter
Beaumont 'Jim' Badger
of Mickleover, Derbyshire, suddenly, on 18
Dec 2003, aged 52. Jim was commissioned into 2 R Anglian
and was the first Regular Adjt of 6 R Anglian in 1982,
succeeding the Late Capt Harry Woods.
Jim brought to that post enthusiasm and dedicated
efficiency, involving himself in all matters of the Bn.
Maj Stan Bullock recalls: 'As a Pl Cmdr Jim was
well known for his liking of Compo Rich Cake. On one
occasion his lads hid two chunks in the back of a APC
and left Jim to find it. He stood at the door, sniffed
and located both pieces in record time. A truly
Gentleman Officer, a most likeable person and someone
the World will be very sad to lose.'
Col Gordon Brett said what we all know: 'A good man.'
Jim was Manager of Repton School Enterprises,
Derbyshire.
The Service of Thanksgiving at Repton School Chapel was
filled to capacity with family, friends and many former
soldiers with whom Jim had served, from Pte to General.
Tribute addresses were given by Lt Col Kevin Hodgson OBE
and Mr Chris Badger. The address was given by Revd Bob
Short, Chaplain of Repton School, and the reading was by
Maj Gen Murray Wildman CBE.
He leaves a widow, Jan, and children Katie and Oliver.
JLR
Postscript I thought the summer Castle 04 obit
for Jim Badger the best obit I've ever read - a great
tribute to a good man.
It is reproduced below, thanks to RHQ B St E.
Jim Badger,
Minstrel, Poet, Sportsman and hugely popular Regimental
Officer, has died in tragic circumstances after a long
illness, at the age of 52, near his home in Mickleover,
Derby.
The eldest son of Col Peter and Joan Badger, he was born
in Singapore on Christmas Day 1951.Christened Simon
Peter Beaumont, he was nicknamed Jim (no one knows why)
at West Hill Park Preparatory School in Hampshire and
thereafter known as such to all but his mother who,
resolutely, remained true to Simon. Jim moved often with
his family, spending time in Goslar, Leicester, Munster,
Berlin and, eventually, Suffolk, which became the Badger
home. He was educated at St Edward’s, Oxford, where
his modest academic achievements were overshadowed by
extreme success on the sports field, on which his great
strength and aggression belied his gentle nature. On
leaving school, he worked briefly in Oslo before
tackling a variety of manual jobs on Suffolk farms,
during which he enhanced his repertoire of agricultural
ballads, many of which contained lyrics of a dubious
nature. On joining the Army and further education at RMA
Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Poachers in
1973, joining B Coy as a subaltern in Creggan Camp,
Londonderry. He subsequently served with the Bn, in a
variety of appointments, in Munster, Gillingham, Berlin,
Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Celle, from where he left
The Poachers, for the last time, in 1988.He then took up
a post at the Army Apprentice College Arborfield where
he remained until May 1991, at which time he left the
Army, supposedly for good. But 9 months later he
rejoined and served as Training Major, 5(V) Bn, The
Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, before retiring, again for
good, in 1994.He is fondly remembered from a tour,
commencing in 1982, as the first Regular Adjutant of 6
(V) Bn, The Royal Anglian Regiment, in Bury St Edmunds.
He is also fondly remembered for collecting more
farewell presents from the Poachers than any officer,
before or since.
Jim Badger settled with his family in Derbyshire and
took up a post at Repton School, at which both daughter
Katie and son Ollie subsequently attended. Not known
previously for his financial acumen, he became the well
dressed businessman who, from scratch, established and
then ran Repton School Enterprises for nearly 9 years.
His task was to commercially market the outstanding
facilities of the School when they were not in use.
Soon after joining the Poachers in 1973, it became clear
that Jim Badger was not destined to be a future member
of the Army Board. Totally disorganised, slightly
unworldly and a platoon sergeant’s worst nightmare, he
was, however, a huge character and great and loyal
friend, much loved and respected by a generation of
Poachers. Whilst serving with B Coy as a subaltern, he
completed two operational tours in Northern Ireland
during which he first proved the absolute dedication to
the soldiers that became his trademark. Either leading
them on the streets of the Lower Falls, or supporting
them from the Operations Room, Jim never rested until
all had returned safely. From his time in Munster he
will be remembered as a rare officer boxer who, during
the Inter-Company Novices Competition, was being soundly
thrashed. But on receiving yet another direct hit on the
nose, he lost his temper (for the only time in his Army
career) and subsequently, with one blow of his enormous
fist, terminated the proceedings, in B Coy’s favour.
In 1974, a number of Poachers, including Jim Badger,
returned temporarily from Munster to Tidworth, on the
occasion of the presentation of new Colours to the
Regiment by The Queen Mother. Many will recall the
inclement weather through which our then
Colonel-in-Chief strode in her green wellington boots.
Never once did she use the shiny, open top Landrover
that had been pre-positioned for just such an
eventuality, much to the obvious despair of the driver.
On the Queen Mother’s helicopter-borne departure, the
parade fell out and, together with the spectators,
commenced the long walk back to barracks in their
hundreds. At this point Jim spotted the Royal Landrover
and, having flagged it down, asked for a lift. The still
dejected driver agreed and Jim, standing in the open
top, complete with Royal wave, was driven back to the
Mess through the admiring masses and the not so admiring
senior officers.
The Poachers subsequently returned to Gillingham from
where, in 1978, B Coy deployed on exercise to The
Gambia. Jim Badger was tasked with organising the live
firing camp. In the African bush he was sustained by
Woodbine cigarettes and copious quantities of Lipton’s
Tea. He arranged for a photograph to be taken depicting
his permanent range team posing in front of a kettle and
a large yellow can of Lipton’s. He sent a copy of the
photograph to Lipton’s who, by return, sent him a
complimentary variety pack of their differing teas. They
also published the photograph in their annual magazine.
Jim tried the same trick with Wilkinson Sword razor
blades. He wrote to them explaining that one of their
blades had lasted him on operations for over a year. But
Wilkinsons were not fooled and wrote back, also by
return, thanking him for his letter and enclosing
another years supply …… of one razor blade.
The Poachers were posted to Berlin and, for the Berlin
Tattoo, chose to re-enact the Battle of Sobraon. Bobby
Robert's Circus provided a number of cannon hauling
elephants and Jim Badger was appointed Officer in Charge
Sikhs. Jim and his Poacher Sikhs lost the great battle
against The 10th Foot, gloriously, every night for two
weeks, in front of thousands of Berliners. Later the
Royal Irish Rangers hosted a Curry Lunch at which the
stated dress code was 'as for The Raj'. All of the
guests, which included many Poachers, arrived dressed
appropriately. Jim appeared dressed as a Soviet Army
Officer complete with jackboots, grey greatcoat, fur hat
and Brezhnev mask. He was asked why he was improperly
dressed. He responded that he had come as the Soviet
Military Attaché …… to New Delhi. Whilst in Berlin
Jim was also appointed Officer in Charge of the Poachers’
Pig Farm. Less importantly, he was also the Mortar
Platoon Commander and thus was tasked to demonstrate his
firepower on Sennelager ranges. Jim arranged for a
high explosive bomb to be replaced by a sand-filled
training device which, when supplemented by some
pre-positioned plastic explosive, was caused to explode
just in front of the entire Battalion. Few would forget
the sight of 600 Poachers, Commanding Officer included,
diving for cover in the Sennelager mud, with the
commentator apologising for dropping the bomb a tad
short of the target. It was also in Berlin that Jim met
Jan. They were subsequently to marry in 1980.
Having completed a residential tour in Londonderry, The
Poachers returned to Colchester from where they deployed
to Cyprus for a 6 month UN tour. Jim Badger was
appointed Adjutant of the East Sovereign Base Area of
Dhekelia. On the arrival one morning of HMS Fearless,
moored just off the Officers’ Mess beach, Jim
contacted the Captain who, promptly invited a number of
Poachers to his Wardroom. The Commanding Officer
informed Jim as to who was to go to represent the
Poachers. Jim, instead, made up his own list. It
consisted entirely of his mates who had a thoroughly
splendid time with the Senior Service. Not surprisingly,
the Commanding Officer was less than happy with this
early display of Mission Command.
Jim Badger’s last tour with The Poachers was in Celle
as OC D Coy. Amongst other appointments he was the
popular Chairman of the Poachers’ Angling Club. Under
his leadership the Club thrived and, prior to an annual
dinner, he always organised a privates v corporals v
sergeants v officers fishing competition. The honours
were never in doubt; the privates always won, the
corporals always came second and, in the real needle
match, history cannot recall the officers ever gaining
the much coveted third place. But that never really
mattered because, as Jim always vowed to remind them, it
was he who threw the winning dart that defeated the much
vaunted Sgt’s Mess Darts Team, some ten years
previously, on that glorious night in Berlin.
Jim Badger was a man of many talents, many
contradictions and huge potential. He was a
capable musician, a gifted artist and a poet of sorts.
And he had an almost unique gift for friendship and for
touching the lives of so many people, from so many
differing backgrounds. Yet for those who knew him well,
there appeared to be a part of him that remained
unfathomable and somehow unfulfilled. We always said
that Jim should have been a wealthy landowner, with a
vast rambling estate, over which he could wander and
write his prose, secure in the knowledge that he had a
ruthlessly efficient Manager to run things for him. In
the Poachers we would remember Jim best as the
entertaining minstrel; after all, we were the only
Battalion to have one of those. There was Jim the
Chelsea Pensioner; Jim the Co-Pilot of the living-in
officers’ Lancaster Bomber Crew; Jim the lead Teddy
Boy in the Bn Review; Jim the Officer in Charge of
Officers’ Mess Dancing Classes and Jim playing the
drums in Joe’s Bierhause in Berlin. And Jim and his
trusty Mandolin, singing Catfish Blues in Munster and,
for twenty years, or so it seemed, singing his trademark
song, The Thrashing Machine, everywhere else. We all
knew the chorus: it finished “I ‘ad er, I ‘ad er,
I ‘ad er, I ay, I ups an I shows er the way”. But
that we could hear it one more time.
The true measure of Jim Badger was clearly demonstrated
by the huge turnout of former comrades and their
families, not only from the Regiment, but also from the
wider Army and Repton School, at his funeral in Repton
School Chapel, on 29 Dec 2003.It was Jim and Jan’s
23rd Wedding Anniversary.
So to Katie and Ollie, of whom he was immensely proud,
and to Jan and brother Chris, we send not only our
deepest sympathy, but also our gratitude for Jim’s
service to our Regiment.
Lt Col Kevin Hodgson OBE
B&C 102 |
