My father, John Ramsden, who has died aged 89, was a Sheffield-based director of the insurance broker Willis. He was an expert on Sheffield industry and also a keen gardener. He and his wife, Cynthia, became the first holders of the National Gardens Scheme’s exceptional service award.
John was passionate about politics. When president of the Sheffield branch of the Chartered Insurance Institute in 1966, he invited the young Margaret Thatcher to speak at the annual dinner in Cutlers’ Hall: they remained in touch for years. He stood for parliament three times, as the Conservative candidate for Chesterfield in 1970 and for North-East Derbyshire in the two general elections of 1974, but gave up the chance of a safe seat, reluctant to leave his wife to manage their five teenage children alone.
He was born in Dronfield, Derbyshire, son of Edith (nee Grocutt) and Fred Ramsden. His father was a partner in Weston & Ramsden, an insurance broking firm in Sheffield. After leaving Dronfield grammar school (where his future wife, Cynthia Biggin, was a fellow pupil), John trained with Commercial Union and did national service in the RAF. He joined Weston & Ramsden in 1948, becoming a director in 1952, and when, in 1955, the business was merged with the expanding Willis, Faber & Dumas, John was retained as their local director.
John believed that his life became truly interesting only after his retirement from Willis in 1987, when he was made a consultant to an early City Technology College, in Nottingham. Having had little formal education – he was 16 when he left school following the sudden death of his father – he was fascinated by new approaches to learning. With the support of the project’s sponsor, Sir Harry Djanogly, he travelled to the US and the Middle East to study different models of education. He was always proud that the college opened on time and within budget.
He had a rougher ride after he was appointed chairman of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Assurance Society in 1990, and learned of irregularities in the society’s investment portfolio. A champion of fair dealing and transparency, he led the management team through intense negotiations, finally compensating members and merging the Society with Family Assurance in 1995.
In 1997 Cynthia survived oesophageal cancer. John devoted himself to supporting her fundraising efforts for cancer charities, which included an attempt to climb Mont Blanc, and the publication of two books about their garden at Fanshawe Gate Hall in north Derbyshire: A Garden in My Life (2001) and Garden Tales (2009). The garden featured in the National Gardens Scheme’s Yellow Book for more than 20 years, and became one of the most popular private gardens in Derbyshire, raising more than £100,000 for the NGS charities. In 2008 the NGS gave John and Cynthia its first – and, to date, only – exceptional service award.
Cynthia died in August 2016. John is survived by their five children, Louise, Mark, James, Anna and me, and 10 grandchildren.
