Alan Richard Tammadge 1921 - 2016

The news of Alan Tammadge’s passing on 25 February has been received by The Mathematical Association with sadness. He was 94.

Alan was educated initially at Dulwich College. It was an education interrupted by the Second World War during which he served as a naval officer in the Mediterranean. But when the war was over he went up to Cambridge to read Mathematics at Emmanuel College. His career included a spell as senior lecturer in mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and as Head of Mathematics at Abingdon School. He was sympathetic to the new mathematics movement and to the aims of the ATAM (later ATM), and it was no surprise that he went on to become one of the three principal authors of the SMP series of textbooks.

Alan’s career culminated in 14 years of headship. As Master of Magdalen College School, Oxford, from 1967, he was considered a ‘stimulating teacher’ and a ‘firm, but fair and approachable leader’. He moved to the Headship of Sevenoaks School in Kent in 1971, transforming it into a co-educational institution with a focus on high academic attainment.

A stalwart of The Mathematical Association, Alan served as President in 1978-79, and then Emeritus Vice President, and finally joined a select group of Honorary Members.