Patrick Sexton

Politics were his first love from an early age, and after moving to Leeds during the Second World War immersed himself in the political life of the city, being elected to the council in 1964 and serving one term as the representative of the then Westfield ward.

It encompassed today’s Park Lane College site and the area around Hanover Square where he and his family lived.

They were within sight of Leeds Town Hall and, as his wife May put it: “We never needed a clock at home, we lived so close we could see the one on the Town Hall.”

Albert Patrick Sexton, who was known as Bert to his family, 
was born in Southall, Middlesex, the elder of two children of
Albert Thomas, a foreman
at the local gas works, and his wife.

Mr Sexton’s mother died during the birth of his younger sister Eileen, and she died in her 20s.

He was educated in Southall and on leaving school joined his father at the gas works, but was on the office staff.

During the Second World War, he served with the Royal Army Pay Corps mainly in Leeds where he met, and then married, his wife May who worked with her father in the family business, Adams Crumpets, one of only two wholesale crumpet makers in the city.

After the war, Mr Sexton joined his wife and helped her carry on in the business.

Both were members of the Conservative Association and very keen on local politics, but while his wife served as a city councillor for 20 years he was more active at ward level.

He was a member of Burley Conservative Club, a political rather than a social club, serving as its treasurer for a number of years. He was also chairman of Burley Ward Conservative Association and of Burley Ward finance committee, and chairman of the Westfield Ward Conservative Association. He had also been president of Westfield Young Conservatives.

Among his many interests was the work of the YWCA with whom he worked to alleviate the problems faced by young people of the day.

As a young man in Southall he had played ice hockey,
and captained the local club which played at Richmond Ice Rink.

In later life he and his wife became supporters of the Greyhound Trust taking in
dogs which had retired from racing.

In the mid 1980s Mr and Mrs Sexton moved to Flamborough with the intention of retiring, although they briefly ran a delicatessen in Bridlington for two or three years before fully retiring.

In Flamborough their local community interests continued, with Mrs Sexton becoming a parish councillor and her husband supporting her in her work.

Mr Sexton is survived by his wife, his children Nina, Andrew and Philip, and four grandchildren.