A commemorative plaque has been unveiled at Malvern College in honour of Wilfrid Noyce, a former Classics and French master who played a pivotal role in the historic 1953 expedition to Mount Everest.
Noyce, who taught at the College in the years following the Second World War, was a key member of the party that conquered Everest in 1953. The successful attempt was famously made by Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay on 29th May 1953. Hillary and Norgay were the second pair to attempt to reach the summit after Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans were forced to abandon their attempt. Had Hillary and Norgay failed, Wilfred Noyce and his climbing partner Mike Ward would have undertaken a “third and last attempt”.
Before becoming well known through his climbing exploits, Mr Noyce served as intelligence officer during the Second World War, serving in the Military Wing at the famous code-breaking school at Bletchley Park before being sent to India where he was employed as a code-breaker in Delhi.
The plaque, now installed near the entrance to the College’s sports centre, was unveiled in a ceremony last week. Speaking at the unveiling, his son Jeremy reflected on his father’s remarkable life and enduring legacy: “Like many young people emerging from the armed forces at the end of the Second World War, my father struggled to find a direction and purpose in the new peacetime world.
“One certainty was that he would continue to climb. His pre-war climbing experience had mainly been in Snowdonia and the Lake District, with a single trip to the Alps in 1938. But during the war, his horizons were greatly expanded by three climbing trips to the Himalayas, while he was stationed with the Army in India, and this experience was probably a factor in his inclusion in the team which made the first ascent of Everest in 1953.
“He also wanted to continue with his writing, and quite unusually had a passion for both prose and poetry. He had already published numerous articles for various climbing journals and was working on his first book ‘Mountains and Men’, which would be published in 1947. He started writing poetry at school, and had two volumes of poetry published in later years.
“However, neither of these activities paid the rent and, after a period of consultation and reflection, he accepted a teaching post at Malvern College.”
During his time at the College, Mr Noyce became involved in various extra-curricular activities, both in the school and in the town where he was founding member of the Malvern Anglo-French Society and the Malvern Writers’ Guild.
It was also while at Malvern that he met his wife Rosemary, who was teaching at the Girls’ School. They were married in the Priory in August 1950 and soon after moved to Surrey where Mr Noyce went on to teach at Charterhouse.
His son said: “Throughout his life, he was always keen to instill a spirit of adventure in the young people he came across and to pass on his advice and experience to help them to develop. He was able to do this very effectively when he became quite well known following the first ascent of Everest, but those skills were first developed during his time in Malvern.”
Stephen Holroyd, Deputy Head, Curriculum, at Malvern College, who is himself a keen mountaineer, attended the unveiling of the plaque, which is placed near the entrance to the school’s sports centre.
He said: “Wilfrid Noyce is a well-known name in climbing circles because of his role in that groundbreaking ascent of Everest over 70 years ago. We are very proud of our association with him, and so we are delighted to have a plaque in his honour here at the school.”