William Hornby Gore, known as Bill, has sadly passed away at the age of 79. He is survived by his wife Clara, whom he married in 1976, their three daughters and three grandchildren.

Along with his brother, Richard, Bill attended Hymers College before moving on to study chemical engineering at Aston University.  Over time, as a chemical engineer, he became frustrated by what he considered accountants' narrow approach to helping companies. As a result, he qualified as an accountant and later founded the Institute for Turnaround to help underperforming businesses avoid unnecessary insolvencies. In this role, he was best known for the rescue of Letts, the diary printer, and the sale of Sir Clive Sinclair’s computer business to Alan Sugar’s Amstrad group.

In his free time, he was also a singer with the Medici Choir and a veteran coach at Colchester Rugby Club, having played the game himself until he was 46.

Bill was a former pupil (1954-1963), committed Old Hymerian and former Governor.  Bill served on the Board from 2012 to 2021 and was instrumental in setting up the Governance and Nominations Committees.  He was also one of the key Governors involved in the acquisition of Hessle Mount.

He was a great character, shrewd businessman, direct and full of fun.  He will be missed.

Justin Stanley, Headmaster

Richard Gore, had the following words to say about his brother:

Bill Gore died on Wednesday 18th of October 2023 after a short illness in St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

Bill was many things; a devoted family man , a highly successful business man , a sportsman , a chorister as well as being able to fly two seater aircraft and do some sailing in any spare timer he had .

Born in 1944, he went to Hymers College at the age of ten and took to school life with his great and boundless energy.

He took to most things the school had to offer. He played rugby all through his school life being a regular member of a successful 1st XV rugby team, the school 1st eleven cricket team, and he was a fine cross country runner.  He may still hold the record for most tries scored in a single game, as he scored 5 tries when playing on the wing in the 1960’s. Of all the sports Bill played, rugby was the one he felt most passionate about. He played until he was in his mid-forties at Old Hymerians, Wanstead, Kelvinside in Scotland and finally Colchester,  and then coached at Colchester for over twenty years. He joined with former team mates for hilarious days out at Twickenham and Murrayfield for many years.

He was a regular at the school debating society, acted in many school plays, sang in the choir and rose to be under officer in the school CCF, which was the highest rank achievable as a school boy.

Bill left Hymers and qualified from Aston University with a master's degree in chemical engineering before adding chartered accountancy to his cv in his late twenties.

Amongst one or two of Bill’s earlier business experiences was when he worked for an Arab based company and on one occasion, when entering Saudi Arabia the authorities took exception to his visa and he was being kept in a room with two armed policemen with their weapons ready for use!  Bill found a reason to go to the toilets as he had seen a British airways pilot he knew go in that direction. He told him of his predicament and the pilot knew what to do and Bill was soon released but had an armed escort back to the aircraft he had arrived on. The crew were very sympathetic and ushered him into the 1st  Class seats and poured him a large gin and tonic before anyone else got on  the aircraft. An early lesson on using all the information at your disposal!!

Bill went on to develop his own business specializing in company turnarounds including saving Letts diaries and then seeing it sold on as going concern.

His business flourished and he travelled all over the UK and USA becoming a well-known and respected figure.   

Bill was keen to put back something into society and he was invited onto the executive board at Essex University where he was instrumental in raising funds for the Universities expansion and received an honorary degree for his dedicated years of expert work.

He was delighted to be invited onto the governing board at Hymers College and put in a great deal of work into developing various projects for the school and was delighted to be part of the process that enabled the school to invite the current Headmaster, Justin Stanley, to take up his post at Hymers.

Bill was so proud of his schooldays at Hymers and took great pleasure in his visits back to Hull and his old school as a governor.

He will be missed but the good work he did at Hymers and elsewhere will long be remembered.

Bill has been remembered in other publications. Please click below to read his obituary in the following newspapers (please note that these external websites have a subscription):

• The Times
• The Telegraph