His early departure from the college was barely if at all his fault

His early departure from the college was barely if at all his fault. His uncondescending friendliness and involvement with their affairs had greatly endeared him to the undergraduates. Unfortunately this attitude, as well as attempts to change the way the college was run, put him into conflict with a narrow-minded section of the governing body and he was forced to resign.The length of time the college then took to find a successor spoke volumes as to the un-wisdom of their behaviour.Nicholas FaithAround 1990 people began to tell me I should paint Stephen Tumim and to tell him the same thing. They had employed a graduate art historian as one of his protection squad.

While wandering round an exhibition at the Tate the officer was able gently to correct some of Stephen’s opinions, a rebuke which a more pretentious and self-important figure would have found difficult to accept.Stephen’s only failure was as Master of St Edmund Hall, a job he greatly prized after his stint as Chief Inspector. It was typical that he thoroughly enjoyed the trick played on him at a time when threats from the IRA forced him out of his lovely house on Hammersmith Mall and required him to be guarded by Special Branch. This was not just personal, it formed part of the qualities enjoyed by the best representatives of “Our Crowd”, the upper-class Jews who have contributed so much to British life over the past couple of centuries through their recognition that financial security also involved responsibility to society.These qualities were most obviously displayed in his term as Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, but they came out also in his work as Chairman of Friends of the Tate. Clearly the authorities listened because he was knighted in 1996. It was no more than he deserved.In 1962 he married Winifred Borthwick, with whom he had three daughters, two of whom are profoundly deaf.

Stephen and Winifred will be remembered for their lifelong work for many organisations involved with the treatment of and care for the deaf – he was for five years Chairman of the National Deaf Children’s Society, she for seven Chairman of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, then later Chair of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations.They were on holiday together in the Galapagos when he died.David RamsbothamStephen Tumim’s friends will remember above all his wry, snuffly, almost badger-like wit and attitude to life, his modesty and above all his honesty. He was rightly proud of the many honorary doctorates he was awarded by various universities, but drew even more pleasure from his historic title of High Steward of Wallingford.On his retirement from the post of Chief Inspector, after a less than happy time working under Michael Howard as opposed to his predecessors, there was something of a public outcry that his public service had not been officially recognised. As when inspecting prisons, he had perhaps shown more interest in the prisoners, but it was a sad way for him to have to leave.An immensely affable man, Stephen Tumim was always happy when in the company of others, such as when lunching at his beloved Garrick Club. In 1996 he was appointed Principal of St Edmund Hall, being forced to leave in 1998 following a vote of no confidence from the senior members. It was typical of him that his last public engagement, before he died, was to preside over the annual general meeting of Unlock, a charity founded by ex-prisoners to help prisoners on release.Oxford was to feature once more in his life, this time for a somewhat disappointing reason.