The following obituary was written by David Walsh

Francis Cazalet came to Tonbridge as Head of History in September 1981 and left at the end of the summer term 1993. Born in July 1938, he was educated at Ampleforth and then did National Service in the Royal Fusiliers, serving in Bahrain and Sharjah, before going to Corpus Christi, Oxford, to read history. He married Rosemary in 1967 and, after a brief period in business, became a teacher at King Henry VIII School in Coventry for three years before being promoted to Head of History at Hampton School in London.

He succeeded Patrick Tobin as Head of History at Tonbridge and quickly made his mark as a phlegmatic and consensual leader with an obvious passion for his subject, particularly the early modern period in which he specialised. He was a man of deeply civilised values and a committed Roman Catholic. He was supposed to corral those Catholic boys who attended Mass rather than Sunday Chapel but was loath to use any admonishment of truants except a quiet word. He was a very tall man with the deepest and grandest of voices while his fund of anecdotes, many of them told against himself, always kept his lessons both stimulating and fun. Wisdom, humour and self-deprecation were the marks of his relationships with boys and staff.

He involved himself in other aspects of Tonbridge life, including house tutoring in Park House, the coaching of rowing, and the CCF. The skills gained while rowing competitively at Oxford were transferred to crews on the Medway. His commitment to the CCF extended well beyond his retirement from teaching and was invaluable to those in charge of the CCF.

When he retired from the school in 1993, he and Rosemary took in students from abroad in their lovely listed farmhouse off the Shipbourne Road. Many of them were military officers from France, Italy and Germany. To them he taught English and all things English in intensive two-week courses, taking them on trips to Canterbury, Cambridge and other historical sites. He combined this with genealogical research into his own family and house, and into the families and old houses of others, often being delighted when he turned up some unexpected fact or foible. He was also a Reader at the Roman Catholic church in Lyons Crescent, where he and Rosemary had worshipped ever since they came to Tonbridge.

His retirement became gradually blighted by ill health, but he continued to take a close interest in his family and all the world around him. He was well looked after by Rosemary and his children - James, Helen and Thomas – and in his wheelchair he became a familiar figure at school events in the Chapel and elsewhere. He will be remembered as a gentle man, with a scholarly inquiring mind, a strong sense of humour and his delight in sharing his knowledge. Those taught by him will have benefited from his passion for history, his kind and generous personality and his unfailingly jovial nature.