He was born in South Shields, where he went to Westoe Secondary School, and, wanting to be a marine engineer, served most of his apprenticeship at Redhead's shipyard, South Shields. In his spare time he went to evening classes at the Marine College in South Shields.

Before the outbreak of the Second World War he was in the cadet force attached to the Durham Light Infantry, and when war broke out would have joined the Army but by then he was too significantly involved in war production to be released for military service.

When his parents moved to Yorkshire, he moved with them and got a job in 1930 at Prince Smith and Stells, textile machinery manufacturers of Keighley. He continued his studies at both Bradford and Keighley technical colleges and later taught engineering at both institutions.

By this time he had joined the ranks of the factory management.

Before and during the war he was concerned with the machining and tooling of the firm's war-time products and was directly responsible for the production of the breach mechanism for the 25-pounder, two-pounder and six-pounder tank and anti-tank guns as well as the Polsten 20mm cannon. In addition, he was responsible for the inspection of the wartime goods.

He worked all hours and said: "They won't have me to fight for them but I will make sure they have plenty of ammo to fight with."

After the war, he was appointed production engineer and was directly responsible for the introduction of the new machine tools, the layout and all the reorganisation that took place for the return to textile machinery.

He was instrumental in aiding companies in both Poland and Russia utilising British machinery.

Subsequently he worked in Japan with Mistubishi Textiles on a similar basis. He was known as Jacksan when in Japan, spending many months there over a number of years.

He became managing director of Prince Smith and Stells and towards the end of his career the company was taken over by Platt International. He joined their textile machinery division in a senior role, subsequently ending up working for Hayward Tyler's pump division of Stone Platt on a large Korean project.

In 1979, while he was 4,000 miles away in Korea, he heard he was to be invested with the MBE for services to export.

He was a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, the Institute of Production Engineering and also Keighley Model Engineering Club, having his own lathe in his garage which he tinkered on for many happy hours.

He served as chairman of the Yorkshire and Humberside Engineering Employers' Federation and also of Keighley Engineering Employers' Association. He was a governor of Keighley Technical College and for many years was chairman of the engineering advisory committee.

A photographer, he had his own dark room and equipment for developing and printing his pictures, and for a time belonged to Bingley and Keighley Photographic Club.

Golf was another passion and he was a member of Keighley Golf Club.

As a young man he enjoyed motorbikes, owning a Scott and an Arial square four and in later life joined the International Motorcycle Touring Club.

When the war was over, he soon started exploring Europe, his special interest being in historic sites, from Roman ruins to cathedrals. He then moved on to travelling the world.

John, who has died aged 96, led a full and active life well into his 80s. Straight-speaking and a man who did not let sentimentality get in the way of a job that needed to be done, he always remained proud of two things: his connection with South Shields and his work to keep the country's fighting men equipped for battle during the war.

He is survived by Edith, his wife of nearly 70 years, and their son Keith and daughter June, six grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

His funeral is to be held on Tuesday, September 2, at Keighley Shared Church at 1.30pm.