My friend Ben Kerwood, who has died aged 77, taught history and was a housemaster for boarders at Lord Williams’s school in Thame, Oxfordshire, for many years; his head there described him as “a wonderful teacher, a vulnerable but brilliant Renaissance man”. On holiday in Cambodia in 1969, he contracted a virus that led to the gradual decline in the functioning of his legs but to no decline in his energy and enthusiasm.
In 1983-84 he had a year as deputy director of the Centre for the Study of Comprehensive Schools in York, where, according to his director, he was a fine working colleague with a challenging but powerful intellect and wide range of skills. After a time as deputy head at the John Mason school in Abingdon, he moved to Wiltshire, where he had 10 years as a secondary school adviser and later inspector for the county.
He was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, to Clifford Kerwood, an assistant secretary in the Department of Health, and Adelaide Hamp Swift, an artist. He was educated at Bryanston school, Dorset, and, after national service in Cyprus, at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he read modern history. His first intention was to be a solicitor but he soon discovered that his true calling was teaching.
Ben had a wide range of interests, which he pursued vigorously after his retirement in the mid-1990s. An accomplished flautist (having played in the National Youth Orchestra), he played in orchestras and small groups, and sang with Salisbury Musical Society and on stage with Opera at Chilmark. He painted, often travelling abroad on courses, and regularly exhibited works. He was a diligent godparent, a keen gardener and a great cat-lover. He kept bees, was chairman of the South Wiltshire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England and served as a school governor and parish councillor.
He is survived by his brother, Adrian.
