Obituary: Arthur Ralph Ransome Lupton (1924 - 2009) — Aka ‘Arthur’

It was by the shorter title that he was known and could be uniquely identified, along with his stature, by all who worked with him in the North Craven Heritage Trust. His involvement with the Trust can be summarised as follows:

Arthur became a committee member in 1990 and continued to 2003. From 1993 to 2000 he was Honorary Secretary, with Jill Sykes for some of those years. He produced the programme card regularly up to 2005; he led walks and helped produce the journal over about 6 years with Maureen Ellis, and was also a member of the Publications sub-Committee. He distributed the Journal and collected subscriptions from homes widely-spread over North Craven. His contribution to the Trust was recognized by his election as Vice President in 2006.

But as with many CVs, this does not reveal the whole man and the totality of his contribution. He was involved in many community organisations in the area - too many to list here - and this gave him special value in linking those organisations and the Trust. Never afraid to challenge the perceived wisdom mentioned in talks, articles and walks, he also worked fully in all the other, some might say more mundane, aspects of the Trust - from barman and procurer of supplies at the Xmas parties at Harden, to acting as distributor to the more far flung areas of North Craven.

Arthur was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Rugby, followed by Cambridge. After a compressed wartime degree (prevalent at the time), followed by direction into the aircraft industry, he was employed as a Graduate Apprentice with the English Electric group and also briefly sampled experience as a master at Rugby. There followed several years as a Consultant in the family firm, concerned with water supply engineering, before retirement to Craven in 1985.

During a meeting to celebrate his life, held in the Settle Victoria Hall in June 2009 (itself one of the many rescue projects in which he involved himself) there emerged a theme common to family, colleagues and friends - recognition of his uniqueness in intelligence and of integrity and his ability to convey this to others with humility.

He died peacefully in Harden Ward of Castleberg Hospital, with a panorama (from which he unfortunately couldn’t benefit) of Blua Crags, Warrendale Knotts and Attermire across the valley. I like to think he might have gained much satisfaction from that final view.

Arthur is survived by Helen and their four children.