Oliver Worsley

He was the second son of Sir William Worsley Bt., of Hovingham Hall, York. He grew up at Hovingham with his elder brother Marcus and his younger brother John and sister Katherine, later to become the Duchess of Kent. He went to Ludgrove Preperatory School, before going on to Eton College. For a brief period in 1945 at the age of 17 he joined the 60th rifles and was sent to Italy for the last few months of the war. He went on to Trinity College, Oxford, to study agriculture and returned home to Hovingham where he managed the farm until he moved away at the age of 36 to Great Givendale near Pocklington where he ran a mixed farm until he moved to Bishop Wilton. Latterly he rented 400 acres of land from Lord Halifax and he remained farming until he died. In 1966 he won a Nuffield Scholarship to study beef farming in America. During his time in the East Riding of Yorkshire he played a full part in the local community, was a strong supporter of Bishop Wilton church, and was involved with various local country shows.

Oliver was a familiar figure in the hunting field, both with the Sinnington Hunt and Middleton Hunt and enjoyed the point-to-point racing which he rode for several years.

In 1966 he married Penelope Fuller from Wiltshire. Sixteen years younger than him, she supported him with all his interests throughout the 44 years of marriage and they had four children, Georgina, David, Richard and Anne. Always interested in the arts, he filled his house with the works of new local artists. He was very involved with the York Four, a group of artists who had been inspired by Hans Hess. Working closely with Hess, he took a great interest in the York Festival and became Chairman in 1966. It was after a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers in York Minster that he finally asked Penelope to marry him.

When York University was first built, he felt strongly that the university should be linked more closely with the City of York and to that end was instrumental in setting up the Arts Centre in Micklegate. He always encouraged experimental work, including the first appearance of nude actors, in spite of protests from the then Archbishop of York. He became a director of the Theatre Royal in York, was on the board of Opera North, and a director of Tyne Tees Television and Granada Television. He became a patron of the Yorkshire Bach Choir. He took a life-long interest in the City Art Gallery and was President of the Friends for many years. He was delighted when the Museums Trust took over the running of the Gallery and it became more accessible to the general public.

On his retirement at the age of 60, he and Penelope moved to York where he set up and ran the Grape Lane Art Gallery. It was more as a hobby than a business, his interest being to give local artists the opportunity to show their work, a source to him of enormous pleasure.

In 1996, the couple's third child Richard was killed in a car crash while serving with the Light Dragoons. Following this Oliver had major heart surgery after which he was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. The following year two of his children were also diagnosed with the same condition. He had watched his mother suffer with Huntington's Chorea but at that time there was no knowledge that it was hereditary. He knew that the prognosis of this disease is full nursing care and for the remaining 12 years of his life he struggled with the lack of independence and the difficulties that the disease brought.

Oliver was known as a true gentleman. A man who made friends wherever he went; a man who always treated others as if they were special, with a wry sense of humour and a kind and friendly word to all those around him.

He felt very strongly that more research should be done into the devastating illness of Huntington's Disease and his family decided 24 hours before he died that his brain would be sent to the Brain Bank in London to be used for research into Huntington's Disease.

Oliver Worsley is survived by his wife Penelope, their children Georgina, David and Anne, and five grandchildren.

A thanksgiving service will be held at All Saints Church in Hovingham at 2.30pm on Monday December 13.