Major General Christopher Tyler
Governor and Keeper of the Jewel House of the Tower of London who once retrieved a lost raven
MAJOR GENERAL CHRISTOPHER TYLER, who has died aged 82, was Governor and Keeper of the Jewel House of the Tower of London from 1989 to 1994 and the first Roman Catholic to hold the post since the Reformation; he was also the first international rugby referee to be wired for sound on live television when the England team played Japan in 1971.
Christopher Tyler was born at Dover on July 9 1934, son of Major General Sir Leslie Tyler KBE CB and Louie Franklin, the Irish daughter of an army doctor.
Despite standing at 6ft 2 ins in his socks for most of his adult life, he was known as Titch by his family after his sister Norma named him Titchopher in preference to Christopher. In 1936 his father was posted to Malta, where the family remained through the Siege until late 1942 when Titch, his sister Norma and mother Louie returned to Britain.
Titch was then sent to prep school at St John’s Beaumont, Old Windsor, where in June 1944 his father paid him a visit prior to his departure for the Normandy beaches on D Day +14. He was not at all happy to see his father arrive in his classroom, as he had already informed his schoolmates that Daddy had parachuted into Normandy on Day 1 of the landings and was defeating Hitler in France all by himself.
At Beaumont College, Old Windsor, he was runner-up at his weight in the All England Schools Boxing Championship of 1952. In that year he formed part of the Guard of Honour that Beaumont provided at the funeral procession of King George VI from Windsor station to St George’s Chapel.
In the same year he entered Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned into REME Corps in July 1954. The following month 2nd Lt Tyler was appointed as the Commander of a Sandhurst drill squad which had been invited to perform at the Edinburgh Tattoo. The appointment included commanding the full parade of 500 all ranks in the Finale.
After a short tour in 16 Parachute Brigade, in 1955 aged 21 Tyler went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read Mechanical Sciences. At the end of his second year he was asked to leave having failed the engineering exams.
However, after winning a bet with the college that he could get a First in the exam re-sit that summer, they allowed him to return and complete his degree.
During his first year at Cambridge, there was a shortage of referees for the inter-college rugby matches. He volunteered and soon found that he was being appointed to referee games of a higher standard than those in which he had been playing. One season later, he was appointed to the RFU County Panel at the age of 22, a record that has never been broken.
In recognition of this achievement he was admitted to the Hawks’ Club despite the fact that he had not won a Blue in any sport.
At the conclusion of the 1969 Calcutta Cup match, for which he had been running the line as reserve referee, two large kilted Scotsmen in the stand decided that they wanted the beautifully embroidered touch judge’s flag which had been entrusted to his care.
Fortunately, a Sunday paper carried a photograph of the struggle, which enabled the Scottish RU to identify the marauders and retrieve the flag.
In the autumn of 1971 the RFU organised a short tour to the Far East which included two international matches against Japan, where rugby union was still a fledgling sport. Tyler was invited to accompany the England team as referee.
Sony Corporation had recently developed technology for referees to commentate live on television during the match and as a result Tyler became the first referee in rugby union to commentate and explain his decisions live on television.
Meanwhile, he had specialised in aeronautical engineering in the early days of the Army Air Corps, returning years later as Chief Aircraft Engineer at Middle Wallop during the Falklands War in 1982.
He attended No 1 Army Staff Course then returned to Airborne Forces with a tour at RAE Farnborough (in Barnes Wallis’s former department) on Ultra Low Level Airdrop and High Altitude Low Opening heavy-drop. This was followed by two tours in the Parachute Logistic Regiment, latterly as Commanding Officer.
His last REME appointment was in 1985, in HQ 1 (BR) Corps as Commander Maintenance. In 1986 he was Deputy Commandant at RMCS Shrivenham. His final serving post was from 1987-89 at the Nato HQ in Oslo as Deputy Chief of Staff (Support) and Senior British Officer Allied Forces Northern Europe.
He retired from the Army in July 1989 and was appointed Resident Governor and Keeper of the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
One year, the State Opening of Parliament fell on November 5 so he decided to hold a Guy Fawkes lunch for the officers of the Honourable Artillery Company who fired the Royal Salutes from the Tower Wharf.
The specially selected menu consisted of: Fishy Tails (Whitebait) as the starter; a main course of Unexploded Bangers, Chips off the Old Block and Has Beans – followed by Bomb Surprise.
In addition Tyler oversaw the construction of the new Jewel House, entertained the G7 heads of State in 1991 under John Major’s administration, and successfully retrieved a raven which had managed to fly to Southwark despite having one wing clipped.
During his term in the Tower REME celebrated its Golden Jubilee, which included a period when the Corps provided the Palace and Tower Guards.
He retired as Governor of the Tower in 1994 and until 2004 was Secretary of the Royal Humane Society, a charity formed in 1774 to give awards for bravery in saving human life.
He had a brief spell as chairman of Army and Combined Services Rugby. A liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Turners, he served as Master in 2000, and as an Honorary Colonel REME (V) from 1994 to 2000.
In 1958 he married Suzanne Whitcomb, the daughter of a wartime RAF officer. She survives him with a son and three daughters.
Major General Christopher Tyler, born July 9 1934, died April 11 2017