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Memorial service to celebrate British Lions rugby player Phil Davies’ outstanding service as head of Cheltenham College Prep School

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Friday, 21st September 2018, 10:40

Phil Davis, standing, second from the left, was part of Old Patesians’ Senior Cup final-winning team in 1972.

Cheltenham College will hold a service in the College Chapel tomorrow to celebrate Phil Davies’ outstanding service as headmaster of Cheltenham College Preparatory School – then known as Cheltenham College Junior School – from 1964 to 1986.

Mr Davies, who was also an outstanding rugby player – he played for England and the British Lions in the 1950s – guided the school through a period of much educational change, maintaining the best of the traditions but also leaving it right up to date and in tremendous spirit for the challenges of the future under the next head.

He was rightly held in great respect by former parents and pupils

He was held in great respect by rugby team-mates and opponents alike. Known in the game as WPC Davies, he won 11 England caps from 1953 to 1958 and was a member of the British Lions team which toured South Africa in 1955, playing in three of the four Tests in a series which was drawn 2-2.

He partnered his Harlequins club colleague Jeff Butterfield, England’s most capped back at the time, in the centre and it was a partnership that came to be regarded as one of the best midfield partnerships in the world.

Mr Davies also played rugby for Cheltenham – he was president from 1972 to 1985 – and Old Patesians, with whom he won a Cheltenham Combination Senior Cup in 1972.

He passed away in January at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford at the age of 89.

He was living at his daughter Judy Clarke’s home in Prestbury before he died.

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Memorial service to celebrate British Lions rugby player Phil Davies’ outstanding service as head of Cheltenham College Prep School

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