Extraordinary LIVES
DAD was born just after World War I in Muswell Hill, North London, and suffered many childhood illnesses, some serious, with the result that he was mainly home-schooled. That was when music became his constant companion. When he visited his banker cousin’s office, he was impressed by the gas fire and swivel chair and thought: ‘That’s the job I want.’ He started working at one of the big four banks as a clerk at 18 and stayed in banking until he retired, apart from when he got his call-up papers for World War II. He was declared medically unfit for active service and served at the Royal Army Pay Office in Leicester, dealing with the papers for soldiers who had been killed. It was there he was introduced to organ music, when the cathedral organist Dr George Gray gave him lessons, and he met his wife, Margaret, a local teacher. They courted for two and a half years before having a tiff and deciding to go their separate ways. A couple of days later, Dad was suddenly told he was being
sent to Egypt in two weeks’ time. He decided to go and tell Margaret and ended up popping the question! They only had a week to organise the wedding. After a five-day honeymoon, they didn’t see each other for two and a half years and kept in touch by writing daily airmail letters. They had three children — me, my brother Robert and sister Diana. Dad was keen on photography, DIY, gardening and published a book, The Island Church, but music was at the centre of his life. He ran music exams for the children of Southend and played the organ for 80 years — 65 years as organist and choir master of St Augustine’s church in Thorpe Bay, Essex, outlasting eight vicars. With his eyesight failing, he retired at the age of 95 after six decades on the same organ stool. He was proud that he could trace his line of tutelage back to Mozart, whom he always called his musical inspiration. After Mum died in 2005, he lived by himself until the age of 99, when he moved into a Christian care home. He passed away with Diana holding his hand. As his granddaughter Lynda pointed out, he had managed to escape two pandemics: Spanish flu and Covid-19.
VICTOR KNILL, born June 1, 1919; died October 4, 2020, aged 101.