Stuart Crampin FRSE

We are saddened to share the news that King’s alum, Stuart Crampin, has died.

Early years

Stuart was born in 1935 in Tiptree. Yes, the place where the jam comes from. He was one of those unfairly gifted boys: handsome, clever, artistic, popular and active.

He lived through the war with a few bomb scares, but he was basically protected from the reality of it. He went on to pass effortlessly through grammar school, National Service and university. I was studying English at King’s while Stuart was also studying his bachelor’s degree there. He was Art Editor of Lucifer, the college magazine. Our friend Bryan Johnson (B S Johnson) who went on to become an innovative novelist and poet, was editor of the magazine (find out more about the life of BS Johnson in our previous edition of InTouch).

Newfound passions

Stuart became interested in rock climbing and was often the romantic lead and set designer in the Drama Society productions. Our student romance started during the drama tour of Germany in 1957 with The Lady’s Not for Burning but had finished before we graduated in 1959. Stuart left with a first class degree in Mathematics and the Principal awarded him the Jelf Medal as outstanding undergraduate of his year because of his wide range of achievements.

Stuart went on to complete his PhD at Pembroke College, Cambridge. His passion for climbing increased, and he did many notable climbs in the Cuillins, Wales and the Alps. However, in August 1961, he fell 1,000ft on the Aiguille de Dru. His climbing partner was killed and Stuart was unconscious for over a month. He eventually recovered but with a new determination to concentrate and to take life and his gifts seriously.

A second chance at life

I came back into his life and we were married for more than 60 years. We lived in Sweden for a while and then in Edinburgh, where Stuart worked with the British Geological Survey and later the University. He worked, among other places, with scientists in Iran, Turkey, the Soviet Union and China. I remember an article in The Scotsman, a Scottish magazine from long ago, that mentioned Stuart was doing some work on earthquakes in Perthshire. This didn't sound very exotic, but it turned out to be a misprint for Persia!

Stuart is known particularly for studying the significance of anisotropy, work that has widespread application in seismology and exploration geophysics. He supervised and influenced brilliant PhD students for 50 years. Stuart’s academic achievements were recognised with awards and medals.

Stuart rejoiced in his two daughters and four granddaughters. He also kept us self-sufficient in vegetables. However, I am most proud of his determination to cope with whatever life threw at him. He worked until he was 80 but Parkinson's was the last test - a test that finally proved too difficult to pass. He died at home peacefully aged 88, not, I'm glad to say, on a cold mountain aged 25.

Details of this obituary have been provided by Stuart’s wife, Roma Crampin [née Williams] (English, 1959).