Tributes to Sheikh Tariq Abdullah from Yemen, who fell in love with Spalding when he lived in the town

Friends have paid tribute to a man who fell in love with our area during his wide and varied life.

Hailed as a ‘person of Commonwealth importance’, Sheikh Tariq Abdullah was a barrister and a leading figure in the Yemen, who was educated at Spalding Grammar School.

Sheikh Abdullah became Britain’s legal adviser in the Red Sea area, advised BP and Shell on oil drilling and, up until his death, was advising the committee that is writing the new constitution for Yemen.

Following his death aged 90 in December, friends Ted Nottingham, Group Captain Peter and Pauline Stuart have written about his incredible life and shared his story with us.

“After a discussion with King George VI during lunch at Buckingham Palace,

Tariq’s father Shaikh Attlee Mohammed made an arrangement with Sam Newson, the Education Officer in Boston, for Tariq to attend the Spalding Grammar School,” explained Ted, who met him in the sixth form.

“When the girls found out that there was a dashing young student at the school they leaned over the fence in droves. The late Jennifer Chappell, later Head of the Fifth Form, was one of those girls and said ‘he was so handsome’.”

When he first arrived in the town, Tariq lived above what is now Coney’s Department Store. However, he soon wanted a taste of family life and went on to move in with Ted and his parents Alice and Tom – who was the town window cleaner.

“Tariq got along famously with the family and Mrs Nottingham regularly told his fortune,” the friends explained.

“Later Tariq quoted Kipling to describe his stay in Park Road.

“’East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet’ but he added ‘they did in that house’.

“Before Mrs Nottingham died in 2001 she said ‘that boy brought love into the house’.”

Tariq was good friends with Hazel Pennington, whose family owned a department store in the town and also founded Flowers N Things in Red Lion Street.

Pauline and Tariq would regularly attend the baptist church in Swan Street where the Sheikh would go on to befriend Sheila Gale who later became minister. Sheila’s mother, along with Mrs Nottingham, became like parents to Tariq, even teaching him how to make his own jam.

Ted said: “Tariq did not pass his ‘A’ levels at Spalding Grammar School. I often thought his widowed mother in Karachi read the Riot Act to him and, Tariq belatedly qualified as a barrister; this was the start of a brilliant career.

“He had offices in Crater and Sanaa in the Yemen but his work as a barrister did not always go smoothly.

“He refused to drop his title of Sheikh despite insistence from the East Germans, who took over Aden after Britain had left, and was once so appalled at the injustice being carried out at the Supreme Court when a defence lawyer he let his feelings be known before being suspended by the judge. The resulting outcry meant he was quickly reinstated.

“However Ferial, his wife, said Tariq would quite often sit with a poor man talking animatedly about his case. Tariq would always help and would never charged a fee.”

While Tariq, who was president of the English Speaking Union in Arabia adored England – and South Holland – his one big love was his wife.

“In 1939 as war came, Tariq and Ferial were on the same boat out of Aden to Karachi, evacuated for their own safety as very, very young children,” the friends said. When Ferial in recent years had a stroke and came to the London Clinic, Tariq would sit for hours by her bedside until she could at last say a few words.”

Pauline added: “When I look back on my dear friend’s life, it has not been an easy one. It has been fraught with trauma, extreme difficulties and danger.”

Several years after escaping the war in 1939, when the North’s armies were about to enter the gates of Aden in South Yemen, Tariq decided it was no longer safe for his children to remain there. Khalid and Reem were put on a fishing boat to cross the Red Sea, eventually arriving in London and safety.

Again, in 2018, when war again broke out in Aden, Tariq realised that it was no longer safe for him and his brother.

His friends explained: “They had to flee by car overnight to the nearest safe port and a journey which should have taken a few hours took them two days.

“When they finally reached their destination they had to wait at the airport only to discover that all of the airport staff had fled. The captain then rushed in and said ‘we have to leave immediately’. It was a mad rush to board the plane, having to leave behind any luggage. The aircraft took off under fire.”

While the incredible stories of Tariq’s life will live on forever, ther friends are devastated by his loss.

Ted added: “Sadly, Tariq has gone and leaves a huge void in our lives. He and Pauline emailed and spoke on a regular basis and in fact she had emailed him on the morning that he died.

“We are honoured to have known him and shall not see his like again.”