The death of Fred Hodcroft at 93 marks the end of an era for St Cross, the all-graduate college in St Giles, Oxford.

Mr Hodcroft, who has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease, was one of the last surviving members of a small group of Oxford University teachers whose first degrees had been gained outside Oxbridge and who found themselves, in the 1950s and 60s, rebuffed in their attempts to gain college fellowships with the university.

These academics helped set up two new colleges – Wolfson and St Cross. Having been a founding fellow of the latter in 1965, Mr Hodcroft remained a proud and active member for the 52 years between then and his death on January 20.

Born in Stretford, Manchester, Fred Hodcroft was the fourth of five brothers, brought up by their widowed mother through the 1930s.

After fire-watching duties during the Stretford blitz, Mr Hodcroft trained as an RAF navigator and saw active service 'rhubarbing' - RAF slang for the hazardous low-level attacks on Japanese supply lines in what was then Burma.

Surviving this and a potentially fatal tropical wasting disease, Mr Hodcroft won an RAF scholarship to study Spanish at his home-town university, where he earned a first class degree.

In 1953, he applied successfully for a university lectureship in the highly-regarded Spanish faculty at Oxford.

There, Mr Hodcroft worked as a lecturer and tutor until his retirement 37 years later, gaining a secure reputation as a leading authority in medieval Spanish and a gifted scholar and teacher.

In retirement, Mr Hodcroft remained a source of knowledge and inspiration for new generations of students and teachers and was honoured by the inauguration, by ex-students, of a Fred Hodcroft prize.

His beloved St Cross' annual tradition of 'Fred's Lunch' would bring together fellows and students. The college said fellows and students would raise their glasses to Mr Hodcroft at this year's event.

Mr Hodcroft survived his four brothers and his wife Joan, who died in 2014.

After a lengthy struggle against Alzheimer's disease, he died peacefully at home.

He is survived by his two sons, Alistair and Felix.

Former colleagues, students and friends will celebrate his life at his funeral at Pusey House chapel and then at St Cross college at 1pm on today (Thurs 23).