Philip Barry Chaytor Pepper

Philip Barry Chaytor Pepper was born in the close of Litchfield Cathedral in Litchfield England on October 1, 1922. In 1939 he won a scholarship to Peddie School in New Jersey, U.S.A. and consequently was caught in North America when WW2 started. Such were the restrictions that he could not have money sent from England for return fare, or that being possible, a boat to cross the Atlantic - as all were commandeered for troopships. He was anxious to return to join the Royal Air Force, as had his father in WW1.

As he was just 17 years old his family thought it best for him to come to Canada until he could get a passage home. His family and a Canadian family knew each other through a common friend and so it was he who spent his first Christmas in North America in Toronto, Canada. The family with whom he stayed with were Dr. Laurel Cole Palmer, his wife Clare (Daniels), a painter, and their two children, Marjorie and Bruce. ( Dr. Palmer, a close friend and painting buddy of Frederick Banting's, was the first surgeon asked by Banting to administer insulin on a gangrened diabetic patient) Barry eventually found a job with a chemical firm in Montreal and worked for one year. At the end of that year he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was sent all over the country to train as a pilot. His great love of Canada grew from this time. He spent the next years with coastal command flying the largest of Canada's aircraft, the Sunderland, flying troopships across the Atlantic and down the coast of Africa. After the war was over, his father wanted him to return to England and attend Oxford University. This he did and received a law degree, completing his Masters degree in two years.

During the war, Barry had spent most of his holidays in Canada and fallen in love with this country, especially Muskoka and with Marjorie Palmer, the first Canadian girl he had met and with whom he had first stayed. After completing law at Oxford he came back to Canada and studied law at Osgoode Hall in Toronto and set up his practice in Toronto where he worked for the next fifty years. Barry and Marjorie, a portrait painter, raised four children, Sarah, Anne, Tony and Nicole who all live in Toronto.

One interesting point remains, Clare Daniels sailed on the maiden voyage of the Aquitania in 1919 to marry Major Laurel Palmer in London, who was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive the Military Cross - one of four soldiers who had won this award twice during WW1. Barry and Marjorie sailed, by chance, on the Aquitania's final voyage on their honeymoon. They were going to accept Barry's scholarship at the Peace Palace in the Hague, Holland to study law for two years. Barry Pepper in his life time had more than a few accomplishments as a lawyer. At thirty-six he was the youngest lawyer to receive a QC at the time, and later in his career, was honoured with a seat at Middle Temple, England, to whom he left a Georgian silver teapot in his memory. Also, some interesting patent cases he won that the public may be grateful for are - the massage shower head, escalator safety and intermittent window shield wipers. As president, and later treasurer of the Legal Society of Upper Canada, he piloted the removal and relocation of Cambell House, an historical Georgian house placed at Queen and University Avenue ( directly across from Osgoode Hall "Dear Osgoode Hall," he'd say) and owned by the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada. To celebrate this event he asked the Queen Mother, who graciously accepted the invitation.

Philip Barry Chaytor Pepper Q.C.; B.A.; M.A.; LLM died September 7th, 1997.

He was born an Englishman but returned a Canadian.

Written by Marjorie Pepper and edited by Nicole, 2003