Rev Dr Philip Noble Tindall

As late as the mid-19th century, the Unitarians suffered persecution for their rejection of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; famously, the Yorkshire-born scientist Joseph Priestley was forced to settle in the United States because of his Unitarian beliefs

Other notable Unitarians include Charles Darwin (Origin of Species), Josiah Wedgwood, the pottery manufacturer and Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web. Unitarians have always been known as liberal thinkers.

Dr Tindall's grandfather, W J Noble, ran the Noble Box Company in the town, and it was to the family home in Pudsey that Dr Tindall eventually retired.

The elder of two boys, after leaving school, Philip trained as a plumber with a Pudsey building firm. In 1931, he won a place at Unitarian College, Manchester, getting his BA in 1934, his Bachelor of Divinity in 1937, his MA in 1939 and his PhD in 1950. From 1949 until 1952 he was a visiting tutor at Manchester College, Oxford.

Later in life he would become a post-graduate research scholar at Newcastle University, obtaining an M.Lit in 1979.

Aged 27 in 1937 – the year he obtained his BD – he married Maud Binks at Pudsey Unitarian Church. Maud had been his sweetheart since he was 19. Maud's grandparents were the second couple to have had their marriage solemnised at Pudsey's Unitarian Church, and Philip's

grandparents had been the first.

His first ministry was at Accrington, and in 1942 he was given charge of the churches at Stannington and Fulwood, Sheffield. After 10 years, he went to Dingle, Liverpool; after another 10 years to Killinchy, Ireland, and in 1964 returned to Sheffield and Fulwood.

Maud, a talented pianist, accompanied the Sheffield Choral Society, and was always ready to step in as organist. The couple were childless, and she died in 2004.

Dr Tindall's final ministry, from 1972 to 1976, was in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Retiring to Pudsey, Dr Tindall assisted at the town's Unitarian church whenever he was needed.

Loving children but being childless, Philip and Maud treated the children in their congregations as if they were part of the family and many – knowing them as uncle and auntie – remained in contact until the very end.

Reserved and studious, Dr Tindall had a reputation among adults as a serious academic, and it tended to distance him. But those who got to know him found a warm and kindly friend with a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous streak.

He was proud of his learning – he read texts in their original Hebrew, Greek and Latin – but the books he surrounded himself with contended with a passion for the Church and his love of Maud.

His younger brother pre-deceased him.