A POPULAR carpenter whose work was featured at Oxford’s Natural History Museum, the MI5 headquarters and at Twickenham Stadium has died aged 73.

Brian Edmondson, pictured below, ran his carpentry firm in Oxford for 42 years and made the frames for the butterfly display cases at the Natural History Museum.

He died last Wednesday after a short battle with lung cancer.

His widow Angie Edmondson, nee Malton, 74, described him as a “gentle man” who had been a “brilliant” stepfather and grandfather.

She said: “He was such a gentle person, and he was fairly easy-going until he dug his heels in.

“No matter whose life he touched, they all loved him.

“On all the cards I have been getting people describe him as a total gentleman.”

Born on March 12, 1940 in Abingdon Road, Mr Edmondson grew up in the city and attended school in South Oxford near Folly Bridge.

He started his own carpentry and joinery business, B Edmondson in Abingdon Road when he was 21, and built his own house in Northampton Road in 1964 which he initially shared with his first wife Janet Carr.

Angie and Brian met on a coach trip to a nightclub in Birmingham in 1983.

She was a widow – her first husband Bob Middleton had died in 1982 – and Brian was a widower. They married later that year.

She said: “He knew an awful lot of people, and his work lives on in the Natural History Museum where he made all the butterfly boxes.

“He designed them himself and they were interchangable. He absolutely loved his work. We could not believe it when he said he wanted to retire in 2002.”

She added: “He was a brilliant step-dad to my children. They absolutely loved him.

“The youngest one was 15 when he came along, and they were all very, very close.

“He hasn’t got grandchildren from his son and daughter, but we have six from my sons and he has always been gramps to them.

“We had a wonderful life. We travelled the world — he went to every single country he wanted to visit including New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina. He was a wonderful man.”

Mr Edmondson is survived by his children Maddie and Andrew, his three stepsons and six grandchildren, his brother Michael Edmondson and sister Christine Warmington.

His funeral will be held on Tuesday at 10.30am at Oxford Crematorium.