Obituary: Edward ‘Ted’ Horne – New Milton Neighbourcare co-founder and expert on Middle East

A renowned New Milton personality who co-founded the town’s Neighbourcare has died at the age of 103.

Born in 1921 in Eastbourne in 1938 Edward ‘Ted’ Horne enlisted in the 7th City of London Regiment Territorial Army and three years later went to Palestine to serve with its police force.

He returned after five years to the army, seeing service in many Middle East countries working in an intelligence role that saw him move from tribe to tribe of desert Bedouins gathering information.

His experiences in the Middle East were to shape his life as he became an expert on the area and in particular Palestine – later helping museums across the world with related archives.

After the war he joined his mother in Poole where he met wife June. He then joined the Metropolitan Police in London where he worked in the CID before transferring to the fraud squad at New Scotland Yard.

In the mid-1960s he joined the forensic science department of the Met, going on to train scenes-of-crime officers at Hendon Police College.

He retired in 1979 and moved with June to Barton where he threw himself into local life.

Ted and June became advisors at the Citizen Advice Bureau in New Milton where he eventually became manager.

Ted also became chair of the local branch of the RNLI in 1985 and, branch president of the Royal British Legion in the town.

But the organisation which he said “remained closest to his heart” was Neighbourcare New Milton which he formed in 1990 with the late Major Wilf Bradley.

The two men realised there was a need for transport to help the elderly and disabled to hospital appointments in Southampton and Poole.

By 2011 Neighbourcare was making an average of 6,000 journeys in a year, and Ted had become its president.

Ted received many honours during his lifetime including the British Empire Medal in 1979. He was a member of the Forensic Science Society and also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Ted was granted a Freeman of the City of London and a governor of the Royal Humane Society.

He was also honoured for the time and dedication he gave to the local community in the New Milton area when, in 2009, he was named Citizen of the Year by the town council

Ted spent his retirement writing and researching about the Middle East, and travelled to the area several times with the BBC for programmes on the subject.

Until his last days he was still helping museums around the world with gathering information about the British presence in Palestine.

Ted’s funeral will be held at New Milton Crematorium on Friday 13th June at noon.