obituary

Peter Newsam, who has died aged 95, first made his mark in education as a champion of the fledgling comprehensive school system, which aimed to replace grammar, secondary modern and technical schools in England and Wales. This came in the…

My friend Jonathan Hill, who has died aged 65 from cancer, was a design tutor and architectural historian at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, from the late 1980s.There he helped to set up a new type of…

My friend and mentor Les Jones, who has died aged 90, was an economics teacher at schools in Oxfordshire and Shropshire, but also had a side existence as an organic farmer during the 1980s and 90s.In 1982 Les bought a 25-acre smallholding,…

My friend and former work colleague Christopher Wakeling, who has died aged 74, was a specialist in the architecture of Protestant nonconformity. He spent his academic career unpicking its traditions, from Quaker meeting houses and Baptist…

The educationist Myra Barrs, who has died aged 83 of cancer, influenced a generation of primary and secondary English teachers in the UK and internationally. A fierce advocate for children’s access to the best children’s books for learning…

My mother, Jane Jones, who has died aged 89, was a primary school teacher with a passion for Shakespeare. She always said there were two men in her life: her husband, John, and William Shakespeare himself. She kept a well-thumbed copy of…

My colleague and friend Pat Pinsent, a Catholic feminist and educator, who has died aged 90, will be remembered for her integrity, kindness and sharp intelligence, as well as for her eccentricities.Pat taught for many years (1967-98) at…

Janet Ramage, who has died aged 91, was a pioneering and enthusiastic teacher of physics and renewable energy. In 1958 she got a scholarship to the US. There she became the UCLA’s first female physics instructor, described in the newspapers…

My grandmother and friend Anne Krish, who has died aged 94, was a social worker and mediator who helped thousands of families in London and Norfolk.Anne was in her 40s, older than most colleagues and a newly single parent, when she joined…

My friend Angus Erskine, an academic and a campaigner for social justice, who has died of cancer aged 70, was a key figure in the development of the Social Policy Association in the mid-1980s, and served on its executive committee. He…