Robert Chester

He farmed in the Ripon area all his life and was at the forefront of mechanical developments as well as being innovative.

He was well respected and known for his generosity with his time, expertise and quiet advice to many other farmers.

He regularly talked to Young Farmers' groups and invited groups to look at his farming operations.

Many of the farm staff he employed went to him as school-leavers and stayed throughout their working lives.

Mr Chester was born at Copt Hewick, near Ripon, the second son of a farming family and tenants of Captain William Powell. The family later moved to Little Givendale Farm, on the Newby Hall Estate, near Ripon.

Shortly before the Second World War, Mr Chester was awarded the Ripon Grammar School scholarship as a country boy. He left school at 14 and began farming in his own right at the end of the war when he was 20.

In his late 20s, he built his own house at Copt Hewick and also managed to buy the farm where he was born.

He capitalised on the demand for farmers to maximise food production and feed the country as he continued to expand in the Boroughbridge and Ripon areas, and also farmed land at Huggate, on the Yorkshire Wolds.

Once established, Mr Chester travelled to America, Canada, Australia, Russia, China and many European countries to look at other farming methods and ideas.

As well as farming, he was a keen racegoer, enjoying ownership of several race horses over the years. In the autumn and winter months, he enjoyed game shooting.

In recent years, Mr Chester lived at Langthorpe, near Boroughbridge, while his family continue to farm both in the Boroughbridge area and on the Yorkshire Wolds.

The high regard and respect with which he was held by fellow farmers was reflected in the fact that more than 500 people attended his Service of Thanksgiving at the Church of Christ the Consoler, in Newby Hall park, where his family worshipped regularly and he sang in the choir as a boy.

He leaves a widow, Jennifer, and five daughters Jo, Sue, Mandy, Kate and Sarah, and 10 grandchildren.