22 November 1994 Lincoln Saddened by Passing of Great Alumnus

The Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University, Professor Bruce Ross, today expressed the University's sadness at the passing of Charles Upham, a distinguished former student from the institution's "college" days.

Charles Upham was a double diploma holder of Lincoln, having been awarded a Diploma of Agriculture in 1930 and returning to study for a Diploma in Valuation and Farm Management in 1939.

Over 200 Lincoln students served in the armed forces during the Second World War. The then Principal, Professor Eric Hudson, only ever sent one letter of recommendation to a commanding officer: "A young man by the name of Upham has left the college to join your unit," he wrote in 1939 to the commander of Burnham Camp. "I commend him to your notice, as unless I am greatly mistaken, he should make an outstanding soldier."

In 1949 funds raised by the people of Canterbury to honour Charles Upham were transferred to the C.H. Upham Scholarships, tenable by the children of ex-servicemen at the University of Canterbury or Lincoln College.

Upham's portrait, painted by Archibald Nicoll, hangs in Lincoln's Memorial Hall, a gift presented by the Old Students' Association. Upham was elected the first honorary life member of the association and attended reunions at Lincoln as recently as May last year.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.