Obituaries
Following his lengthy obituary printed in The TImes 16 August 1971 the same newspaper printed two more contributions.
" . . . In the eyes of those who own, have owned, or aspire to own, one of the 3,040 Bentley cars designed and built by the 'old' Bentley company under the leadership of "W.O." he was admired and respected—indeed, I think, loved is not too strong a word—for to know his cars was to know him. During his working life "W.O." suffered a series of ups and downs which might have broken a lesser man. It certainly marked him and it was a disillusioned "W.O." I first met 25 years ago . . . . "W.O." has said that the pleasure he derived in the post-war years from Club activities; from making new friends among its members; and from seeing the loving care bestowed upon 'his' cars has more than compensated for all his earlier disappointments." S. S.
"The six years during which I worked for "W.O." were a period of education and pleasure. His modesty, lack of pretension, mental honesty and reasonableness endeared him to those in contact with him, and his overriding interest in the improvement of the car provided the education in a period which included the post-war 2 1⁄2-litre Lagonda development, schemes for 4 and 8 cylinder derivatives, for the pursuit of shorter strokes in engines, for a small transverse-engined front wheel drive car and for a performance engine for the Morris Minor in place of the 850cc side valve engine it then endured.
Though normally of reflective habit his experience showed him when swift action was necessary, and he could be very determined in pursuing it. Big enough to admit mistakes when they had occurred, he also knew when to modify and when to start afresh in remedying them.
It is a pity that circumstances prevented his influence on car development from being greater than it was. Though motoring and motor cars were his life he retained a keen interest in locomotives." Mr Donald Bastow.
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