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History
Parents were Reverend Alfred Rupert Penn and Mary Elisabeth Penn (née Church). Michael’s father, Rev. A. R. Penn, was born in India in 1898 and attended Jesus College in 1918, then ordained into the Anglican Church in 1922. Michael’s mother, Mary Church, was from Cambridge and her father Canon Edward Church was the rector of Fen Ditton near Cambridge. He attended Trinity College in 1889.
Michael went to India at age 6 weeks and spent his childhood in Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu in southern India where his father taught school and had a parish. His family spent 10 years there, but Michael returned at age 7 to go to school in England, staying with relatives at Fen Ditton. One of his uncles, George Church, CBE, later became the Archdeacon of Malta. Another, Dr. Joe (John) Church, attended Emmanuel College in 1919, and later did mission work in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. A third uncle, Dr. Bill Church, also attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, as did his cousin Dr. John Church in 1949. They also spent many years working as doctors in East Africa. Michael’s son Andrew read physiology then medicine at Jesus College and Addenbrookes, and Andrew’s son Jonathan, finished a PhD in the ethics of artificial intelligence at Pembroke in 2020 – completing five generations at Cambridge.
Michael Penn attended Jesus College, around 1943-5, initially taking courses in engineering. He was called up for the RAF and did navigational training in the UK and Eastern Canada in 1945-6. After the war he was posted to the Middle East, (Cairo and Palestine) until he could finally demobilize and resume his studies at Cambridge around 1947. While there his knowledge in photography was shared with Jesus contemporary Antony Armstrong-Jones. Michael completed his medical training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital around 1953.
In 1951 Michael married Rosemary Weaver Bridgman in Victoria, British Columbia. Rosemary was born in England but was raised in Canada, returning to England to attend university. She was in the 1948 group of Newnham College women who were the first to receive Cambridge degrees. They met while both were attending Cambridge in 1948.
Michael and Rosemary Penn moved to Victoria, BC, in 1953 and Michael practiced medicine there until his death in 1997. Rosemary, who had studied Shakespeare and Chaucer, worked most of her life as a well-loved teacher. They had 5 children: Dr. Caroline Penn studied medicine at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Andrew Penn, graduated from Jesus and Darwin, Nigel Penn flew Canso water bombers and later was a pilot for WestJet, Briony Penn obtained her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, and is an author, artist, and environmental activist on Salt Spring Island. His youngest son Malcolm Penn does forestry mapping in Gisborne, NZ.
Michael continued his hobby as a photographer, and left many portraits, landscapes and much film footage that celebrates his life and family, his love of flying (he travelled widely from Haiti to the Canadian arctic in his own planes) and his love of the mountains and travel which took him to the corners of the earth and the diverse environs of British Columbia