The association has learned of the death of Lt Cdr Jeremy (Jem) Tetley RN DL who died suddenly on 3 July 2013.
Private family funeral. Service of Thanksgiving at Creed Church, Grampound at 11.00am on Wednesday 24 July. No flowers please. Donations if desired for the King George’s Fund for Sailors (Cornwall Branch) may be sent to the funeral directors W J Beswetherick & Son Ltd, Central House, Fairmantle Street, Truro TR1 2EQ 01872 274021.
He attended 815 Squadron reunions; he was senior pilot from January 1963 to March 1964.
From Daily Telegraph, Peter Hore
Lieutenant Commander ‘Jem’ Tetley, who has died aged 82, rescued antelope and helped to quell a mutiny in Africa and to end one of Britain’s small wars, before becoming a landowner in Cornwall.
Jeremy David Tetley, known as ‘Jem’ was born on December 29, 1930 to a London stockbroker and gentleman farmer outside Worth, Sussex. His father was a Harrovian, but hated the school so much that he sent both his sons to Eton.
‘Jem’ joined the Navy as an aviation cadet in 1949, went solo in nine hours, and between 1951 and 1954 he logged over 3,000 flying hours in the multi-purpose Fairey Firefly, the Fairey Gannet reconnaissance plane, and in anti-submarine Whirlwind and Wessex helicopters. The propeller-driven aircraft of the 1950s had poor forward visibility, blocked by their huge engines, and the most experienced and able pilots were selected as landing signal officers Tetley, with a remarkable accident free flying career, served three appointments as ‘batsman’ in the carrier Theseus during the Suez War, in the carrier Warrior in the Far East after the Korean War, and in Ocean after she had been converted to the first of the navy’s helicopter assault ships.
In 1958 Tetley was given a permanent commission and sent to sea to gain his bridge watchkeeping ticket, but soon afterwards failed his high altitude selection test and, instead of converting to jets, learned to fly the Gannet, and the Whirlwind and Wessex helicopters in their anti-submarine role.
His commission as senior pilot and, latterly, acting commanding officer of 815 Naval Air Squadron in 1963-64 was one of his busiest. He was embarked in the carrier Ark Royal until December 1963, until his squadron disembarked at Aden, to support the army during disturbances there, while they waited to re-embark in the carrier Centaur.
Earlier in the year, while Ark Royal was off Mombasa, Tetley led his helicopter squadron in a unique rescue mission, in which they relocated a herd of the tiny hirola, or Hunter’s hartebeest, from the banks of the Burra river, where they were in danger of being hunted and eaten into extinction by Somali tribesmen. Tetley spent ten days ferrying the hirola in crates, four at a time, to Tsavo where he delivered them into the care of the naturalist David Sheldrick.
Tetley witnessed the independence ceremonies of both Kenya and of Zanzibar in December 1963. At the ship’s cocktail party at anchor off Zanzibar he was asked to host the British Resident, “a very charming but worried man”. The Resident confided to Tetley that home-rule would end in disaster within six months. The Resident was wrong, rued Tetley, and the next month he stripped the ASW equipment out of his helicopters and flew a company of Royal Marines ashore to quell a mutiny by the army.
815 NAS also spent a month in the Radfan mountains during one of Britain’s lesser known small wars. The tribesmen, who had traditionally collected tolls from passing caravans, resented the loss of income when a customs union was formed with the Federation of South Arabia (now the People’s Republic of South Yemen) in 1962, and rebelled against central government. Their mountain strongholds were inviolate until Tetley and his helicopters gave the Royal Marines an advantage by lifting them high up into the ‘chocolate’ mountains.
Tetley retired, with no accidents in his flying log, in 1964.
He started to farm at Garlenick Manor in Cornwall, beginning with a rundown farmhouse and 150 acres, which he and his wife restored and expanded until he owned 600 acres. He was a tax commissioner in Cornwall, a member of the board of the RNLI, chairman of Cornish CLA, High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1976 and became Deputy Lieutenant in 1977. In 2001 he was president of the Royal Cornwall Show.
He had what he called “a strong weakness for nice motor cars”: one of his first was 1926 Gurney Nutting boat-tail Bentley which he rebuilt, and he owned a series of Aston Martin DBs. He also sailed competitively for many years, and from 1983 onwards he competed in the two-handed AZAB (to the Azores and back) with his wife, winning their class in 1995. His last AZAB was in 2007 at the age of 76.
Jem Tetley married Maureen ‘Mor’ O’Neill in 1956, who survives him their daughter and two sons.
Jeremy David Tetley, born December 29 1930, died July 3 2013.
From The Cornishman 06 July
Tributes have been paid to a former president of the Royal Cornwall Show – a former Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall – following his death in a car accident in Cornwall.
Lt Commander Jeremy Tetley RN (Retired), 82, from the Grampound area near Truro, was one of two people killed while travelling in a silver BMW estate when it collided with a white tipper truck shortly before 1pm at Treluswell, near Penryn, on Wednesday.
Current show secretary Chris Riddle said: “We are aware of this tragic accident. It has come as a shock to everybody who is associated with the show and with the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association. Everybody’s thoughts are with his family at a very upsetting time.”
Lt Cdr Tetley was also a former pilot and batsman on aircraft carriers in the Fleet Air Arm, who had been a training officer at RNAS Culdrose in Helston, and had been involved in agriculture for almost 50 years.
An active member of the Royal Cornwall Show committee, he became president in 2001 at the height of the foot and mouth crisis.
He was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1976 and subsequently appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant in 1977.
A keen sailor, he was a member of the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club and had been the oldest skipper to take part in the legendary 2,500-mile Azores and Back race in 2007, in his Swan 36, Carte Blanche a challenge he first completed in 1979.
An enthusiast of classic cars, planes, steam locomotives and boats, he was also elected to the RNLI Management Committee in 1967 and became a Life Vice-President in 1978.
He leaves behind his wife, Mor, three children, ten grandchildren and many family members and friends.
As a training officer at Linton on Ouse and Culdrose, he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander before retiring from the Fleet Air Arm in 1964.
The 82-year-old had been involved in agriculture on his own farm near Truro, as well as with the Country Land and Business Association and Royal Cornwall Show Committee.
Mr Tetley was killed alongside 61-year-old Bridget Toy, from Penryn, whose husband called her the “love of his life”.
A 65-year-old man from Penryn, who was also travelling in the car, was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
The driver of the white Fiat Ducato truck, 22, from Penzance, suffered minor injuries and was treated on the scene by paramedics.