Robert Lawrance Minter

1949 - 1981  (32 years)

• Name	Robert Lawrance Minter
  Birth	2 Jul 1949	Colombia   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Reference Number	2712
  _UID	68AF487A374146E095003B7236D9A6F765C8
  Death	17 Nov 1981	Callender, Scotland   [2]
  Notes	Cliff Minter: Robert was a salesman; killed in an areoplane crash at Callender, Scotland, aged 32. More on this tragedy comes from a letter written on 6 December 1981 by Roderick Minter to Norman and Jean Minter (kindly supplied by Margaret Young): "[Robert] ... was piloting his private plane to Scotland when he ran in to a bad spell of fog, he just lost his bearings and crashed into a mountain." There is a website at www.open.ac.uk/Arts/minter/ dedicated to The Robert Minter Collection - a database of music collected by Robert Minter and acquired by the Open University. The site includes the following: "Robert Lawrence Minter was born in Colombia in 1949. He was British and was educated at schools in Edinburgh, Dartford and Peterborough. He had a succession of occupations including computer operator, bus driver, courier and salesman of engine components, but his two major passions were flying and music, particularly trumpet music. The Royal Air Force refused his application to join as flight crew, so he borrowed money from a bank, ostensibly to buy a motor, and spent it on private flying lessons. His musical interests were also nurtured through an informal route. He had little theoretical or practical training, but learned to read music and play the trumpet. He picked up the rules and conventions for music editing from text books, and became sufficiently adept to have editions published by the important publishing firm Musica Rara. Minter unearthed several obscure pieces and struck up friendships with many distinguished professionals. He was particularly skilled at finding his way into and around inaccessible libraries, and collected a large number of facsimiles of manuscripts and early publications. On November 17 1981 he piloted a light aeroplane from Inverness to Glasgow. During the flight the weather deteriorated. He encountered difficulties over Callender, and, at 5pm in a snowstorm, crashed into Ben Ledi. He died in the crash. After Robert Minter's death, his parents, Betty and Alfred Minter, approached the Open University to enquire whether the collection of facsimiles he had amassed could be put to some profitable use. I [Trevor Herbert] travelled to the family home at Sandwich on the Kent coast, and only cursory examination was necessary to form the view that the collection was significant. Mr and Mrs Minter had neatly stored their son's music in sixteen large crates; the crates contained films and facsimiles of more than twelve hundred pieces." January 2020: email correspondence with Geoffrey Cloke: he started by saying that he had been a friend of Robert (Bob) Minter and had written about him in a yet-to-be-privately-published autobiography. Geoff has allowed me to reproduce the following from the section of the autobigraphy that deals with working on the Oxford buses: "I already had some connections with the bus company through my mother, through people at my old school who had worked there and through a trumpet player who had worked on the buses in previous years. Robert Minter was better known as an editor of obscure Baroque Trumpet Music. He was less known for turning up at a party one night very late, and when asked how he had got there saying “I brought my bus” which he then returned to the garage after the party was over. He was also not well known for driving his bus one day in a replica of a black SS uniform (his own story). A woman passenger got on the bus and said “Ooh, my husband had a uniform just like that in the last war!” “SS madam?” “No, Kings Yorkshire Rifles!” Whenever I asked anyone about him they would shake their head “Mad” they would say. Absolutely mad”. He was also a trumpet player like me, smuggled bits of European Baroque Trumpet music from libraries to publishers in the UK to be published. His collection is owned by the Open University, and has been described as ‘Extensive’. He also owned the trumpet that I wanted – a Mahillon (straight) Piccolo. Robert Minter took me flying from Oxford to Peterborough in a light aircraft. In 1981 he flew the same (or a similar) aircraft into a hill, having (I believe) set his altimeter wrongly – although according to the Minter website, he lost his bearings and then got into trouble. John King and I went to his funeral. I took my daughter to see Robert’s grave in Kent shortly after she was born and we were in that area."
  Person ID	I2712	Ash, Kent
  Last Modified	8 Jan 2020

  
  

  Father	Alfred Lawrance Minter,   b. 5 Nov 1922, New Zealand d. 18 Feb 2008, Kent RD (Age 85 years)
  Mother	Betty Mary HEATH,   b. 1 Jul 1926, Eastry RD d. 5 Nov 2012, Hull RD (Age 86 years)
  Marriage	9 Sep 1948	Dover, Kent   [3]
  Family ID	F157	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Death - 17 Nov 1981 - Callender, Scotland  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos

  Robert Lawrance Minter Photo taken from Open University website dedicated to the Robert Minter Collection

  
  

• Sources

  [S11] Cliff Minter. [S34] Registrar General for Scotland. [S25] BMD list.