Dear Sir, Madam
I am writing to inform you that my father, Harold Lawrence Milner sadly passed away on Monday 14 June 2021 in JHB. He attended PBHS from 1947 – 1951 as a border in Solomon House, he’d been an active member of the PBHSOB for as long as I can remember, he regularly attended functions and really looked forward to the dinners which he always attended and his Old Boy tie with pride.
He was born on 13 January 1933 and passed away 14 June 2021. He was 88 years old. Although matriculating 70 years ago, he never lost touch with the school and I think that speaks volumes about PBHS.
Both he and his father Louis Milner (attended 1918 – 1922, he was born in 1904 so that’s my mathematical estimation!) attended the school.
Harold Lawrence Milner (Better known as Harry, Larry or Lawrence depending on who you ask) was born in Pretoria, South Africa on 13 January 1933. His father was a doctor and travelled frequently, this led to the family travelling to the United States where Lawrence spent nearly 2 years during the early 1940’s. The journey to the Eastern Seaboard of the US during war time was not without its danger, in fact, the ship that the family travelled across the Atlantic on was later sunk by German U-boats on its return journey after dropping them off.
He and his family returned to South Africa after about a 2-year stay. With the war now over the return journey was far less eventful. Lawrence then went on to attend Pretoria Boys High as a border at Solomon House where he matriculated in 1951.
Lawrence then went onto take a keen interest in music and began to learn how to play the Double Bass, he played both as a jazz musician as well as learning to play classical music.
He left South Africa in 1955 and travelled by ship to the UK in order to earn a living as a professional musician. He became a British Citizen and would spend the next 25 years living in the UK.
He travelled around Europe during the late 1950’s and throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s playing for a number of bands both classically as well as in Jazz bands. He also would perform as a civilian in many military bands and was stationed on American bases in Germany at times performing with both British and American military bands.
During this time Lawrence developed a great interest in photography. He read that an ideal place to practice your skills as a photographer in a dynamic environment was to visit airshows. This would offer the opportunity to photograph static aircraft on the ground or moving targets in the air. What started off as simply a way to practice and hone his photography skills soon developed into a love for aviation which would stay with him for the rest of his life.
Lawrence married Janet in 1978 and they had 2 children. Throughout the 1970’s he ran a successful interior business with offices in London and Johannesburg. In 1982 the family moved back to South Africa, initially to Cape Town where Lawrence’s parents had a flat in Muizenberg.
After living in Tokai (just a few miles outside of Muizenberg) for just over a year, the family moved back to Johannesburg. Where both his children went to school and eventually left South Africa themselves at around the turn of the 21st century.
In 2005 what began off as short piece of writing to accompany a photograph of a small aircraft that he had supplied to an aviation magazine became more than 15 years of deep research into the Second World War, the pilots and the politics of the time. As part of his research he became a member of The South African Air Force Association in 2005 and later, in 2011, he joined The Royal Air Force Association.
In May 2008 his wife Janet died suddenly after a short illness.
Throughout his life, Lawrence kept close ties with his former school Pretoria Boys High, being an active member of the schools’ Old Boys Association, and never missed a reunion dinner as well as visiting the school up until the Covid restrictions of 2020/21 made the dinners and school events less easy to take part in.
He also continued to be an active musician.
Lawrence passed away in his sleep in the early hours of Monday 14th June 2021 after suffering from a short illness, he was 88 years old. He will be missed by his children and grandchildren.