Deaths
The Guardian [Manchester (UK)]
29 Oct 1992
Lord Rodney, who has died aged 72, is best remembered for refusing to attend his daughter's wedding. In 1982, Anne Rodney married an activist from the bizarre sect, Fellowship of Friends, which believed the way to Heaven was through the appreciation of art - followers, mainly gathered from children of the rich, gave 10 per cent of their salary to the Fellowship to follow an aesetic [sic] aesthetic lifestyle. Lord and Lady Rodney disaproved [sic] of both the sect and son-in-law and went for lunch at the Lords instead. After this, John Rodney, the ninth Lord Rodney, actively campaigned against pseudo-religious cults and drug abuse.
Lord Rodney was a direct descendant of Jane Seymour (niece of, rather than the queen) and Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney who defeated the Spanish Fleet off St Vincent in 1780 and the French fleet in 1872 [sic] at the Battle of the Saints.
He himself was a keen sailor but poor eyes prevented him from joining the navy. During the second world war he served as a commando in Burma. Later on, he was a marketing director and a delegate to the Council of Europe and Western European Union.-S.H.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers, Limited
Obituary of Lord Rodney
The Daily Telegraph [London (UK)]
22 Oct 1992: 21
Abstract (summary)
Subsequently he worked with Rootes and the Portal group of companies. He set up the British Federation of Printing Machinery and Supplies and was chairman of the Printing Equipment Educational Trust. Rodney was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and took part in the Bermuda Race. He enjoyed shooting and was a keen gardener. In Who's Who he listed world travel among his interests, adding "not all recreation". It was typical of [John Francis Rodney]'s concern for others that while being nursed in the Royal Marsden Hospital he began working on schemes to help the hospital.
In 1968 Rodney was one of the few public figures prepared to be named in a battle against the escalating danger of cults. Cultivists Anonymous helped the parents of cult victims and formed a point of contact for those already within. Rodney campaigned vigorously because his own daughter had been a member of the "Fellowship of Friends" before he succeeded, with the skill of the Scarlet Pimpernel, in luring her home.
[ed. - Link to the following article, http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/krok_dariusz_influence.asp?ID=33307 is defunct.]
Lord Rodney is Dead
From "FAIR News", London, Autumn 1992
Lord Rodney, the chairman of FAIR, the British cult education and referral organization, died in October. According to the editor of the FAIR newsletter, Ursula MacKenzie, Lord Rodney took an especially keen interest in FAIR's work because he had first-hand experience of cult involvement in his own family, an involvement lasting several years, which helped him to identify with concerned parents: "He certainly knew about the devastating effects of the problem," Ms. MacKenzie writes.
"The House of Lords," she goes on, "offered chances to bring the cult issue to the forefront of public attention. Lord Rodney made use of this again and again. The most recent debate he called (February 1988) gave FAIR the opportunity to provide Peers with briefing material proof to the event. Lord Rodney was intrigued and got in touch. Closer contact was established after the debate, and in the autumn of the same year he agreed to become chairman of FAIR.
"We could not have had a better champion for our cause. Far from being merely a figurehead, he took a keen active interest. For example, he never stopped tackling parliamentarians on our behalf, including the Prime Minister. He set up a parliamentary group on cults, made up of MPs and Peers, and spread the message in the Council of Europe to which he was a delegate. One of his great concerns was also to create better understanding between like-minded cult monitoring groups. . . Our deep sympathy and good wishes go to Lady Rodney and the whole family. "
Lord Rodney writing in FAIR News, Autumn 1990:
The majority of us here this afternoon have come because of our concern about cults. This concern in most cases stems from our personal experience...I believe by and large this concern is unselfish and motivated by a desire that others may be spared the trauma we have experienced. Some accuse us of being oversentimental and overreacting; maybe some of us are, but with good reason: It is hard to stay calm and collected when you see your family being split asunder.
There are those - mostly academics - who set out to examine these cults in a cool and logical way: What motivates people to join them? Are they free agents? How long does the average member remain in a cult? and so forth. I have nothing against this approach, but I do not think those adopting it can quantify the human suffering involved. I do not wish ill to anyone, but let them have a loved one duped into joining a cult, and I wonder how detached they would remain. The other objection I have it that their association with these cults helps the groups in their search for credibility. Otherwise why are they welcomed at their meetings and featured in the newsletters! Ladies and gentlemen, I believe in the end you either consider the activities of cults antisocial, deceptive, and destructive of family life - or you don't. I do not think we can sit on the fence.
Additional address to the House of Lords, February 10, 1988.
