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Obituary - Henry Arthur Rodney Barnett
Rodney Barnett died on 29 May 2001, aged 86. He was born on 9 December 1914, the second son of a commercial traveller and of a mother who had trained as a professional pianist.
Rodney was educated at Mill Hill School and had at an early age set his sights on becoming an actuary. In 1930 he passed the London matriculation in the First Division and thus gained exemption from the preliminary examination of the Institute of Actuaries. This was not an easy time for obtaining employment and he enrolled with the Institute in 1931 before he had found an actuarial post. Towards the end of that year Rodney had a short spell at Canada Life but then studied full time for Part 1 of the Institute examinations, which he passed first time in 1932. He was immediately taken on by Sun Life.
In April 1939 Rodney joined the Territorials as a Gunner, being called up on 1 September, by which time he had passed all the actuarial examinations except the then Part 6. He was commissioned in November 1940 and served with the 1st Survey Regiment, Royal Artillery in Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Syria, India and Burma. He became Battery Captain but was wounded in April 1945 and sent home. Although unable to write for some months because of his wounds he was able to pass the final Institute examination in November 1945.
Rodney returned to Sun Life in January 1946 but a year later he joined British-American Tobacco as head of their Pensions Department. During his time there he was allowed to take on consulting jobs for other clients and started work for the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries' Joint Mortality Investigation Committee; the embryo Continuous Mortality Investigation Bureau of the Actuarial Profession (the CMI).
In 1955 Rodney set up on his own as a consulting actuary. At the end of that year he became Superintending Actuary of the CMI and in 1972 became Secretary to its Executive Committee. In 1961 he founded the partnership of Rodney Barnett & Co. and in 1989 that firm merged with Waddingham & Co to become Barnett Waddingham. Rodney was a founding partner. He retired both as Secretary to the CMI and as a partner of Barnett Waddingham in 1990 and was then appointed a full member of the CMI's Executive Committee to which he actively contributed until his death.
It is obvious that Rodney's role was key to the development of Barnett Waddingham. Not only did he start Rodney Barnett and Co. but many of that firm's clients and contacts are still clients and contacts today. It was a matter of great pride to Rodney that numbered amongst these are both BAT and the CMI. Although Barnett Waddingham had grown well beyond the firm that Rodney had retired from he retained close links, attending social functions and maintaining a lively interest in the firm's development and in the careers of its staff and partners.
It was Rodney's work for the CMI that the Actuarial Profession will remember most. He was the driving force behind the day-to-day work of that organisation for 35 years and undertook much research on its behalf. These were the days before computers and the work required considerable skills and determination. In all of this his passionate interest in mortality and related matters shone through. Rodney's legacy to the Actuarial Profession is a storehouse of historic mortality information and a unique research organisation. Rodney had several papers published in the Journal of the Institute of Actuaries, four of which were the subjects of discussions at sessional meetings. In 1985 he was honoured by the award of the Institute's first Finlaison Medal, an honour that he cherished to the end of his life.
Rodney had an active personal life. In 1956 he received an award from the Royal Humane Society for assisting in the rescue of a swimmer in difficulties in a rough seas. He was elected a member of Amersham Rural District Council in 1961, being its Chairman between 1964 and 1967, and he became President of his local Rotary Club. He was fascinated by anagrams, limericks and clerihews. But Rodney's main hobby was music where his enjoyment on the piano varied from Beethoven to jazz.
In 1946 Rodney married Joan (nee Richards). He leaves two daughters, Fiona and Hilary, and a granddaughter Josephine who was born in his 80th year and was the joy of his old age.
Rodney was a private man of high integrity who had many interests and a healthy curiosity. He was proud of his profession and his contribution to it. He was a loyal friend, a valued colleague and a humorous and witty companion. He will be missed.
Barnett Waddingham, June 2001.