Rhodri Williams, November 23, 1946-December 7, 2025

RHODRI Yorath Williams, who has died aged 79, was a popular figure in Henley for many years, especially in the town’s hostelries and restaurants.

He was born in Ross-on-Wye, the son of a solicitor and wartime army officer, and brought up in Monmouth and the Forest of Dean.

Despite being born in England he was proud of his Welsh ancestry.

Rhodri studied at Lydney Grammar School before going on to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in 1965 and taking a short service commission with the Royal Navy serving as a torpedo and gunnery officer on A class submarines in the Far East.

He left the Navy in 1969 and worked at the Chartered Institute of Builders as an assistant registrar, spending three years with IBM (UK) as a staff assistant to the HQ building services and 18 months in a direct selling business.

In 1975 Rhodri moved to Shetland working as a rock driller and blaster and as a bar manager at a hotel. It was there that he met former Naval colleagues working on oil rigs which rekindled his love of the ocean.

A year working on the west coast of Scotland, operating work boats and ferries, followed.

Rhodri later joined the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) as a third officer working on fleet tankers, support tankers and store ships and gained the rank of Second Mate, his Class 11 certificate and was awarded a BTEC Higher
Diploma in nautical science. Once he had taken off from an aircraft carrier in a helicopter when a sudden squall saw the pilot lose control, sending the aircraft spinning into the sea. Rhodri and the pilot were uninjured. The helicopter was not.

Then came a spell studying the joint service public relations course before spending 18 months at the Ministry of Defence where he launched the RFA’s magazine Gunline.

The call of the sea, however, was too much for Rhodri to ignore and he served on tankers and was involved with landing ship logistics. It was during this spell that he became a Master Mariner.

Following his retirement, he moved into a cottage in Burchetts Green and he and his partner Jacky ran the Crown pub, opposite his cottage, for two years.

But Rhodri spent much of his time in Henley, most recently at Hof’s bar and restaurant and the Square restaurant, both in Market Place and where he could be seen most lunchtimes watching the world go by with a glass of red wine and a copy of the Times in hand.

His interest in the sea continued, and he owned a 31-ft gaff cutter, which was moored off the South Coast. He was a member of the British Field Sports Society and the Royal Naval Sailing Association.

Rhodri was a long-standing member of Leander Club and a member of the Friday Dining Club, a black-tie event of up to
40 members who meet for a three-course dinner on occasions as well as the Friday Club, a less formal group of up to 12 men who gather for lunch and good conversation once a month. He had an interest in horse racing, mainly for the social side, and was a member of the Hot To Trot syndicate with modest success.

Rhodri was twice married and divorced and met Jacky, the love of his life, at Leander Club after being introduced by his dear friend the late Bill Ellis. Jacky joined Rhodri in the Burchetts Green cottage in 2007.

In March this year the couple left the village and moved to Ancastle Green in Henley to a house with a bar in the back garden where the couple would welcome friends.

His love of everything Welsh was always with him. In recent months, when Rhodri developed mobility problems, he could be seen riding around the town on his newly-acquired buggy, which proudly displayed the Red Dragon of Wales.

His admiration of his beloved Wales rugby team was not quite matched by his knowledge of the sport. After their penultimate match before his death, Rhodri stated that he noted an improvement and potential and victories were just around the corner. The next game saw the Welsh lose 0-73 to South Africa.

It was while visiting his sister, Ruth, in Portugal that Rhodri suffered a stroke. He passed away the following day. He will be greatly missed by many. The funeral has taken place.

Richard Reed