John 'Fingers' Fingleton (Chatham 66)
25 June 2025
John Fingleton
The editor of The Stoic magazine observed in 1997 that being a Stoic is not for five years or two years, it is for life. Just as Mary Tudor once said that you would find Philip and Calais lying in her heart, so Fingers’ heart would be engraved with MCC and Stowe.
I first met Fingers in 2002 with Anthony Shillington and David McDonough for lunch at Sofra, a rather wonderful Turkish restaurant, in Shepherd’s Market. This lunch became controversial as the governors thought that I had been nobbled by the counter-revolutionary praetorian guard of Stowe’s ancien regime. It was decided that I should have a governor approved chaperone to monitor any future meetings. I took no notice of that particular piece of gubernatorial advice.
John Anthony Fingleton came to Stowe from Aldwickbury Prep School in January 1962, joining his older brother, David, in Chatham House. His name appears frequently in The Stoic magazine and, unsurprisingly, Fingers was a keen debater. Fingers gets a special mention for his contribution to the debate on nuclear disarmament (you can probably guess which side of the motion Fingers was on.) Always one to show a healthy disregard for contemporary mores, Fingers later proposed ‘that this House wishes to disown its generation’. According to The Stoic, the argument was strongly contest by both sides and, after much discussion, the motion was defeated by 35 votes to 20. Less well known than Fingers’s debating talent is his ability as a musician: he played the cello in the School orchestra and was the compère of the Music Club’s 100th meeting in the Roxburgh Hall in July 1965. Among his accomplishments at Stowe, Fingers rose to the rank of Sergeant Major in the CCF, honorary secretary of the gramophone society, dormitory settler, third XI cricketer and scorer for the first XI.
He left Stowe a year early, having won an English-Speaking Union Scholarship to attend Cranbrook School in Michigan which he later referred to as the second most beautiful school in the world. His reference from Stowe for the ESU Scholarship concluded with these words, ‘he is very good natured, well-liked, a good talker and likes an argument.’ Fingers’s year in America turned out to be one of his most formative experiences as he threw himself into the life of the school, managing the first XI soccer team and giving a memorable performance as Sir Toby Belch, a particular apt role given his stature and booming voice. He remained a strong advocate of the ESU and encouraged future generations of Stoics to emulate his example of spending a year in America.
When he returned from Cranbrook, Fingers enjoyed a career in the City which spanned 30 years, first as a stockbroker and investment adviser at Simon & Coates and then as a senior financial and corporate public relations executive.
Fingers’ file contains correspondence with four of the seven headmasters of Stowe – R.Q. Drayson, Christopher Turner, Jeremy Nichols, and myself. He attended the Memorial Service for Donald Crichton Miller (Headmaster from 1958-1964) and the dedication of magnificent glass doors, incorporating Stowe’s shield, at St Peter’s Church, St Albans, in memory of Eric Reynolds (Headmaster from 1949-1958) There can’t be many Old Stoics who had links with 6 of the 7 Headmasters of Stowe.
One of my favourite artefact from Fingers’s file is the 172nd edition of The Stoic, December 1983, which was sent back to the School with numerous corrections in red ink. Fingers was a stickler for correct spelling, grammar and punctuation!
Fortunately, the Old Stoic Society put Fingers’s talents to good use and he became Chairman in May 1996, thirty years after he left Stowe.
Fingers steered the Old Stoic Society into a golden age, amply fulfilling the Society’s stated articles of promoting and supporting the interests of all Old Stoics and Stowe School.
Highlights of his tenure as Chairman included the magnificent 75th Jubilee festivities in 1998, setting the bar very high for the 2023 Centenary celebrations.
The list of events attended by Fingers while representing the Society. No Stowe funeral or memorial service is complete without his presence as Stowe’s representative mourner-in-chief. Until his recent illness, Fingers continued to attend countless concerts, sports events (and not just cricket…), dinners (lots of dinners, including the first Old Stoic regional dinners).
Fingers gave unwavering support to the Stowe Club in Paddington, an important part of the school’s cultural and social heritage.
Old Stoic Gap Year scholars benefited immensely from the largesse of grants to the value of £1,000 each; the Stowe Harvard Fellowship found a true champion in Fingers, drawing on his own experience of spending a hugely enjoyable year as an ESU Scholar at Cranbrook.
Fingers used his skills in PR and persuasion to identify, induce and inveigle, distinguished Old Stoics to take up the honorary Presidency of the Society. He showed the same skills as an auctioneer raising significant sums for the many charities that he supported.
In terms of legacy, Fingers’ work with the School’s Development Office and the launch of the Campaign for Stowe was of major significance. The Stowe School Foundation, inaugurated on the School’s 75th Jubilee Foundation Day by John Sainsbury, then President of the Society, is still the primary vehicle for the development and improvement of the school’s educational facilities and an endowment for scholarships and bursaries.
Looking back over his time as Chairman of the Old Stoic Society Fingers reflected on three abiding memories:
First, the magnificence of Stowe en fête on a beautiful spring 75th Jubilee Day, starting with a lunch to honour the first 99 boys who arrived at Stowe on 11 May 1923, followed by the grandeur and dignity of the Commemoration Chapel Service;
Second, the warmth of welcome he always received whenever he came to Stowe;
and third, he relished having been told by Mary Price, doyenne of Stowe catering, for so many years, that she had a fervent “hope that Mr Fingleton would be coming to the Common Room Thanksgiving Dinner tonight, as I always enjoy feeding him!”
When I saw him a few days before he died, he said that he regretted missing this year’s Speech Day and that he was annoyed that he would miss Ben Duckett leading England’s batting in the quest to return the Ashes. Serendipitously, I was with Fingers when Ben passed 50 runs in his first innings in the first Test Match against India and I hope that Fingers was able to relish Ben’s magnificent second innings when he scored 149 runs.
Persto et Praesto
Dr Anthony Wallersteiner
Head