HEADMASTER KILLED

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28457, 11 December 1957, Page 14

HEADMASTER KILLED

Mr L. V. Bryant, Of Pukekohe (New Zealand Press Association/ AUCKLAND, Dec. 10. Mr Leslie Vickery Bryant, the headmaster of* the Pukekohe High School, and a prominent New Zealand mountaineer, was killed instantly when a car he was driving crashed into a power pole at the corner of the Great South road and Aranui road, Penrose, about 10 o’clock tonight. Eye-witnesses said Mr Bryant’s car was travelling south along the Great South road. It apparently hit the pole with considerable force as the impact crushed the radiator back two feet. Mr Bryant was dead when an ambulance arrived.

Mr Bryant, who was aged 52, was to have presided tomorrow at the annual prize-giving ceremony at Pukekohe High School. Mr Bryant was an experienced mountaineer. He got his early training on Mount Egmont. and was the first club captain of the Taranaki Alpine Club. He climbed extensively in the Southern Alps and pioneered new routes up both Mount Tasman and Mount Cook. In 1934, he did a number of major climbs in Switzerland, including a double unaccompanied traverse of the Matterhorn. In 1935 he was the only New Zealander in the British Everest reconnaissance expedition led by Eric Shipton. Sir Edmund Hillary gave credit to Mr Bryant for the success of New Zealanders in the Himalayas.

“Shipton told me,” he says, “that his vivid memories of Bryant’s ability, temperament, and companionship influenced him in his decision to invite two more New Zealanders to join the reconnaissance from the. south in 1951. From that invitation led the triumphant expedition that conquered Everest in 1953.” Mr Bryant was born in Hamilton in 1905. He was educated at Hamilton High School and at Auckland University College and London University, where he graduated master of arts with first-class honours. He held a number of teaching positions at New Plymouth Boys’ High School, Waitaki Boys’ High School, and Southland Boys’ High School, before being appointed headmaster of Pukekohe High School in 1948.

Mr Bryant is survived by his wife, two sons; and one daughter.