John Lewin: – [Heath 1927–1936]
John was born on , the third son of Frank and Elizabeth Lewin. His father was a Patent Agent and partner in the firm of Barron & Lewin. John attended Heath (Junior and Senior schools) from 1927 to 1936.
He showed an early ability for games, winning medals in the Junior House Relay (1928) and Junior Sixes (1928 and ’29). As mentioned below, he excelled at cricket, progressing to the first XI before the age of 15. He was also Captain of Fives and was keen on rugby, playing for Heath Old Boys and Yorkshire Wanderers after leaving school.
John studied at Leeds University whilst working as a Solicitor’s Articled Clerk, passing the Law Society’s Intermediate Examination, and enlisted in the Territorial Army in 1939. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in May 1940 and served on the Home Front until May 1942. He was then posted with the rank of Captain to the Middle East Forces, serving in Egypt and Palestine. With the requirement for Anti-Aircraft Artillery reducing in late 1944, John transferred to the York and Lancaster Regiment of infantry. He died of injuries while on active service, and is buried in Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel.
I can do no better than echo the tribute paid to John in the pages of The Heathen p. 4 from January 1945.
John Lewin belonged to a group which in the middle ’thirties showed so well-balanced a combination of athletic distinction, social tact, and sound intelligence that those who remember them find it hard not to reflect that “there were giants in those days.” John’s own especial distinction was in cricket, and he was Captain of the XI, but his ability in all games was marked. He was qualifying as a solicitor after leaving Heath. He leaves a particularly gracious memory of uprightness and charm.
David Lewin [Heath 1968–1971]