We are extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Patrick Nuttgens (1933-2021), OE and member of Talbot House from 1947-1951 and Allen Hall 1951-1954. 

Known as “Joey” at the College, a nickname “allocated” to him by his housemaster, he was in sports teams and the CCF. He sat the Oxford and Cambridge School Certificates passing in all with six credits, and then proceeded into the seminary, leaving after three years.

In 1954 he explored the possibility of entering a monastic order in Leicestershire, and in September that year, he donned a black habit and joined the Cisterns at Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire. He was ordained in July 1961 and left the Abbey in May 1977.  

Patrick transferred to the Plymouth Diocese, and he was in the parish of Newton Abbot in Devon when he celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination. Very soon afterwards, he left the priesthood, and in July 1988, he married Jenny White. He spent the rest of his working life as a social worker helping homeless men in Exeter.

He always enjoyed returning to the College and invariably was one of the last to leave the building at the end of the day.

Patrick Joseph Nuttgens was born in Hendon, northwest London, on 20 March 1933 and was in Talbot between 1947 and 1951, and Allen Hall until 1954. He died on 27 October 2021 at Rowcroft Hospice, Torquay, as a result of oesophageal cancer at the age of 88. He has been interred at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.

May he rest in peace.

Prepared by David J S Kay