Dame Julie Kenny obituary: The self-made entrepreneur born in Sheffield but forged in Rotherham

It was where in 1986 she founded her company Pyronix, a manufacturer of electronic security equipment, which she grew into an award-winning global business.

She was a government-appointed commissioner to Rotherham Council from 2015-18 in the wake of the town’s child sexual exploitation scandal and was made a Freewoman of Rotherham in 2020.

But her greatest mark on the locality was her work to rescue Wentworth Woodhouse from decay and decline as chairman of the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, which she described as “one of the most inspiring, yet hardest, challenges of my life”.

She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2019 in recognition of her five-year campaign with SAVE Britain’s Heritage to buy the house in 2017 and her ongoing leadership of the trust.

Dame Julie was born in 1957 and grew up in an impoverished household in Hillsborough and Stannington in Sheffield. She said difficulties during her childhood had given her the motivation to succeed.

At 18, she left home to become a legal secretary in Cornwall, and underwent legal training to start a career as a litigation lawyer. She launched Pyronix with her first husband, but their marriage ended and Dame Julie continued to lead the growing business as a single mother.

She leaves a husband, Iain Hall, three children, eight grandchildren and three stepchildren.