Celebrate the Life: Master Patrick Maddams HON FRIBA

In the autumn of 2005 a new Sub-Treasurer, Chief Executive, arrived in Inner Temple. He established himself, I think almost on his very first evening, in the Inn’s own Pegasus Café. And there he greeted his new colleagues, chatted, laughed, and enjoyed a glass.

We soon discovered that Belinda was in the Inn too. Yes, of course. And what a delight. She was a wonderful presence, to enliven the Inn.

Rather less expected, on that very first evening in Peg, was the arrival of a ten year old girl with long curly dark hair who strode into the bar, declared “I will have a coke, please” and sat down to join us. Cecilia had arrived!

We did not have just a new Sub-Treasurer in the Inn, but a new family. It was a joy.

And for the next 12 years, Patrick was at the centre of the Inn’s life, every part of it. Everything in his past career seemed to come to its happiest fruition.

We did not have just a new Sub-Treasurer in the Inn, but a new family. It was a joy. And for the next 12 years, Patrick was at the centre of the Inn’s life, every part of it.

Architecture: He was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects; and was now in charge of one of the loveliest and most historic ensemble of buildings in London.

Law: He moved from Beachcroft to The Inner Temple, from one side of the legal profession to the other, in a seamless segue.

Business: Simply, doing business. He was just the person to negotiate the sale of the vast Mitre Court complex to Apex Hotels, at a pivotal – frankly rather dangerous – moment in the markets. And he did it, triumphantly. His mother’s remarkable business skills had become his own!

Music: He had been CEO of the Royal Academy of Music; and now had the Temple Church, already one of London’s great musical centres, in his bailiwick, and all the potential of The Inner Temple itself to explore and realise. He loved it.

Travel: Patrick, it seemed, was never off an aeroplane. He had caught the bug as a student, on a greyhound bus around the USA. And for the Inn, he visited at least 12 countries on four continents. (And strangest of all, when Patrick was not involved himself, Bob, his brother, was in the frame. How many people are there who cannot come on a pilgrimage to Ethiopia themselves but happen to have a brother who has filmed there for years?)

And all of this in a collegiate setting, where friendships, shared aims, and a happy social life inform and animate almost everything.

We have the best and most grateful possible memories of Patrick’s tenure. We believe – and we certainly hope – that Patrick as well had found in the Temple his natural home, and that on his retirement he took with him over a decade of wonderful memories too.

And Cecilia, I hope you realise that amid all this his real pride was in you. We got regular updates – of school, then university – and occasionally, you would be in Hall for lunch and we were agog, catching up with your dancing, your year in Spain, your field-trips, and your launch upon your teaching career. No wonder Patrick was proud of you, and of all that you were already achieving. It is a real pleasure that we still have good reason to see Belinda and yourself in the Temple.

What an honour it was, for us, that Patrick’s last kind contribution to the life of the Temple was the performance, just weeks ago, of all six Cello Suites by Bach on a single day. It was magical, from beginning to end. We were able to arrange a live-stream of some of the performances. We are very touched, that Patrick was able to listen to this miraculous music in the hospice.

What an honour it was, for us, that Patrick’s last kind contribution to the life of the Temple was the performance, just weeks ago, of all six Cello Suites by Bach on a single day. It was magical, from beginning to end.

Patrick described himself as a lapsed Catholic. Perhaps he had, indeed, rather fallen out of love with the Catholic God. But he had certainly not fallen out of love with Church – as a place of generosity, warmth of heart, and welcome. It was exactly where he belonged. He was the best of friends to the Temple Church and to all of us who work there. The first service we could do for him, before he even arrived at Sub-Treasurer, was at the death of his father, in his father’s honour. We certainly hope that the last such service we can offer to Patrick will be a service of thanksgiving for his own life, in the Temple Church. It will be a privilege for us, to remember him there and to give thanks for all the years of service, of friendship, and of warm-hearted goodwill that he gave so generously to the Inn and all its members.

Cecilia, Bob, Belinda, you are surrounded by love today: by the love of everyone here at Walberton; and of everyone far afield – in this country, Ireland, the USA, Canada, and Africa – who misses Patrick and who cares for you. We are thinking of you all; you, with Patrick, are in the prayers and in the hearts of so many people, and will be for months and years to come.

We are thinking of you all; you, with Patrick, are in the prayers and in the hearts of so many people, and will be for months and years to come.

Patrick had an extraordinary memory. He seemed to know every poem by Ogden Nash by heart, and would recite them with immense verve, and have us in fits of laughter. But he knew other texts by heart too. Not least his own school song, which he seemed always to treasure:

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.

Turn, most gracious advocate,
Your eyes of mercy toward us;
And after this our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Pray for Patrick and for us all,
that he and we, all of us, in the end,
may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

May Patrick rest in peace, and rise in glory.

The Rev’d Robin Griffith Jones

Master of the Temple