Four Radley Wardens: Adam Fox, John Vaughan Wilkes, Wyndham Milligan and Dennis Silk

Wyndham M. M. Milligan, MBE, TD, who has died aged 91, was Warden of Radley from 1954 to 1968. He was educated at Sherborne and Caius College, Cambridge where he gained a 1st Class in the Classical Tripos. From 1932 he was an assistant master at Eton. During the war he served with the Scots Guards in NW Europe and as a Major he was awarded the MBE in 1945. On return to Eton he was appointed housemaster of Hodgsons where he "ran a very happy house", and commanded the Corps with great enthusiasm.

At Radley he found the school in need of tidying up physically and of tightening up on discipline, and in academic rigour in the lower school; and he applied the necessary correctives. At both Eton and Radley he was known for his personal charm and effusive manner, which at Radley earned him the nickname 'Gush'. He proved to be more in sympathy with boys and junior masters than with their seniors in Common Room, some of whom survived from pre-war days. To young masters he was a warm father-figure, not at all distant. He came into Common Room every evening after Chapel for a drink and informal conversation. He encouraged boys in distress to come and see him; and he welcomed the approach of assistant masters with problems of discipline and idleness to discuss. This by-passing of the usual channels caused great annoyance to the Social Tutors (Housemasters), who felt that the Warden was running a school of 430 boys as if it were his own Social. They did come to recognise, however, that he was extremely hard-working and conscientious. He took the trouble to know the names, not only of all boys, but also of the domestic staff and gardeners and ground staff, whom he would regularly visit on his walks around the College grounds. This care and interest in those under him stemmed from his army days.

As a somewhat reserved and private person he appeared to distrust emotion. As one young master has written, he never praised anyone in public, but it was astonishing how much he knew and noted what one did, and a letter of appreciation would appear in one's pigeon hole. This fear of emotion may have been why he did not support the popular view that drama has an educational importance. In contrast, himself married to an accomplished musician, Helen Cassavetti, through his appointments and personal support he did much to raise the standard of music at Radley, not least in the congregational singing in Chapel.

Sports flourished at Radley in his time, but he did not often give them his personal support. He admitted to being deeply thankful that the school both rowed and played cricket, so that his absence on towpath or boundary could be explained by his presence elsewhere.

In the sixties, a very difficult decade for all schools, his strong personal influence over boys, and sympathy mixed with firmness, helped him to steer Radley through the minefields more successfully than was the case at many other schools. During this time he gradually introduced liberalising measures, not always to the liking of senior boys whose outdated privileges were abolished. Private fagging and prefects beatings also came to an end, and instances of bullying were limited, though not entirely eradicated. At the very end of his tenure, after many testing years and in declining health, there was a loosening of control, and he was finally glad to retire.

His proudest claim for his years at Radley were his appointments to Common Room. Some were inspiring teachers, a number of whom went on to academic distinction elsewhere; and others in due course were appointed to headships. In 1954 he took over a Common Room of only 35, and left one of 46 in 1968. Of the appointments he made in the interim no fewer than 18 men became headmasters. This ability to 'spot winners' he attributed to his experiences in the wartime army.

After his retirement from Radley he was appointed Principal of Wolsey Hall Tutorial College, Oxford, where he remained until 1980.

His wife Helen, who gave Wyndham such great and constant support throughout his career, survives him together with their three sons and two daughters.

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