My friend Rex Russell, who has died aged 98, taught and fostered the study of local history in Lincolnshire, enthusing hundreds of adult students, and publishing more than 80 books and articles.
Rex was born in Hackney workhouse, east London, during a first world war Zeppelin raid. His father was the workhouse master, his mother, the matron. In the early 1920s, with his three brothers and mother, Rex moved to his mother’s family home in east Yorkshire while his father remained in London, seeking work. Rex attended the village school in Holme-upon-Spalding-Moor that his grandfather had attended and where his great-grandfather had been headteacher.
The family were reunited in Essex. After attending school in Loughton, Rex won a scholarship to Bancroft’s school. An Essex county art scholarship followed and he subsequently became a commercial artist, with graphic skills that were later applied in beautiful maps showing enclosure and landscape change in Lincolnshire.
After marriage to Eleanor, who continued to be known by her maiden name, Froude, he returned to the East Riding, and the couple found work as farm labourers near Seaton Ross. War service followed, with Rex training soldiers at Loch Fyne for D-day. He then taught at Holme-upon-Spalding-Moor primary school, and read history and education as a mature student at Durham University (1947 to 1951).
Appointed Workers’ Educational Association tutor organiser for Lindsey, Lincolnshire, and then University of Hull staff tutor in local studies (1964-81), he lived in Barton-upon-Humber. For several years he cycled to his village classes, often in winter, arriving with icicles hanging from his beard.
He encouraged students to research and publish local history. Much of his own work was produced co-operatively, including research on enclosures with Eleanor. They were always striving to make history accessible. His research interests included education, labouring movements (including agricultural workers), revolution, Methodism, medieval settlements, friendly societies and headstones.
His most recent publication was From Cock-Fighting to Chapel Building: Changes in Popular Culture in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Lincolnshire (2002).
In 2010 a personal achievement award was presented to Rex by the British Association for Local History at Nettleton Manor residential care home where he lived.
Eleanor died in 1989. In 1994 Rex married Joan Mostyn-Lewis, a former student. She died in 2012. He is survived by his son, Adrian, daughter, Kleta, grandchildren, Rheda, Mila, Dan and Ben, and great-grandchildren, Sarah and Nicholas.
