Biggleswade obituary: Robert Elphick

A relative said: “It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of Robert Elphick on September 11.

“He died peacefully in his sleep at home.

“Robert was the third generation of the Biggleswade Elphicks who owned and printed the Biggleswade Chronicle up to only a couple of decades ago.

“Robert lived in Brussels and London after a successful and fascinating career as a foreign correspondent for Reuters and the BBC. His postings included Moscow, Algiers, Vienna and Bonn, and he ended up as press spokesman for the European Union.

“He often spoke of accompanying his father by car when they delivered the Chronicle on Fridays, even during the Second World War, driving ‘all over the Chronicle district including such megalopolises as Hinxworth’.”

The company had been established by his grandfather Charles Elphick who took over as editor, printer and proprietor in 1892, less than a year after the Chronicle’s launch.

Mr Elphick’s funeral was held at Mortlake Crematorium, London on September 26.