George Bomfforde Wheeler:GEORGE BOMFFORDE Wheeler, who has died aged 78, was a district judge in Northern Ireland and the great-grandson of the Rev George Bomfforde Wheeler, the second editor of The Irish Times. (The Rev Wheeler took over the editorship of the paper in 1859, three weeks after its inception, from his brother-in-law, Dr George Frederick Shaw).
GB Wheeler was born in Santry, Dublin, in 1932, one of six children, to Arthur William Wheeler and his wife Rowena Anne Yardley (née Edge). He attended Mountjoy School and Trinity College Dublin, completing his BA in 1954 and his BComm in 1955.
He excelled at sport, representing Trinity and the Irish universities at hockey and soccer, and also held the position of secretary of the university central athletic committee for 1954 and 1955. A contemporary profile of the captain of the Dublin University football club best displays the characteristics which he was to carry with him for the rest of his life.
“No one will easily forget George Wheeler’s performance in the Collingwood Cup in Cork last year,” according to the profile. “Handicapped by toothache, he sustained injuries in both matches, yet on each occasion returned to the field to play inspiring football. There were no dissenters when Dr Hooper of UCD awarded his annual ‘Oscar’ to the Trinity captain and paid tribute to his ‘magnificent display of courage and skill’.”
After completing his studies, Wheeler married Rosalind EM Dickson in Downpatrick in 1957, daughter of the manager of the local Northern Bank. They emigrated to southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where he joined the Native Commissioner’s Office. During their seven years there, he studied law and became sufficiently qualified to act as a magistrate in the capital, Salisbury (Harare).
They returned to Downpatrick in 1965 where he continued to train to become a solicitor, taking up an apprenticeship and subsequently joining J Murland Co, where he eventually became a partner until 1979, when he became one of the first circuit registrars in the Northern Ireland court service. In 1991, he became a district judge and held this position until 2004, retiring at 72.
He was a playing member of the Down Hockey Club, playing his last game at 60. A keen sailor, he raced Enterprises and Cruisers out of Quoile Yacht Club on Strangford Lough, taking the position of commodore for one season.
As a septuagenarian, he followed his son’s band Ash to rock concerts and festivals throughout Ireland, taking in U2, Coldplay, and Robbie Williams.
He committed himself wholeheartedly to many committees but particularly to those of the Downpatrick Presbyterian Church, where he served as elder from 1971 onwards and where he was secretary from as early as 1969.
In memoriam: “He tried to do his best” – an epitaph that was first applied to his great-grandfather.
His wife Rosalind, daughter Heather Fair and sons Michael, Timothy and Patrick survive him.
George Bomfforde Wheeler: born April 8th, 1932; died January 20th, 2011