Alistair Ferguson Ritchie

Who was Alistair Ferguson Ritchie?

Alistair Ferguson Ritchie was a crossword compiler, who set as Afrit. The son of a post office clerk, he was born in 1890 and brought up in King’s Lynn. He was head boy at King Edward VII Grammar School there and graduated from Queens' College, Cambridge in 1911.

He trained for Holy Orders at Bishop’s Hostel, Liverpool and was ordained deacon in 1912, and priest in 1913 . From 1912 to 1918 he was curate at St Paul’s church, Southport and from 1918 to 1924 he was St Mary’s church, Waterloo and also an assistant master at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby. From there he went to Wells as Head of the Cathedral School and also as a priest vicar at the cathedral. He resigned as Priest Vicar in 1935 as the growing school needed his full attention.

In 1946 he was made a Prebendary of Wells Cathedral in recognition of his service to Wells and the diocese. In 1920 he married, Violet Minett who also taught at Merchant Taylor’s, Crosby, and they had four children. He died in harness on 8 April 1954, aged 63, prompting a letter to The Times.

He was an excellent sportsman in his youth and besides crosswords, his interests included book-binding and bee-keeping. He was a demon at croquet and the Wells Cathedral School still maintains his croquet lawn. At the school he kept bees in what had been the ‘laundry garden’. When the bees took the garden over he persuaded gangs of volunteers to help take care of them. It seemed to the pupils that the volunteers emerged unscathed, whereas the headmaster, despite cloaking himself in hats and veils, always managed to get stung.