A well-known figure in Oxford's legal circles, Tony Peet, has died, aged 81.

Tony Peet pictured with Kenyan leader Jomo Kenyatta

Mr Peet, whose family had deep roots in the British Empire, epitomised a once familiar type of colonial servant.

A product of public school and Oxford, a sportsman and lover of horses and foxhunting, and a devoted follower of the Church of England, he served in the Kenyan administration from 1949 to 1963.

When Kenyan independence in that year forced him to seek a new career, he qualified as a solicitor and joined the firm Marshall and Eldridge in 1964, becoming a partner the following year.

He remained with the practice -- which later became Marshall and Galpin -- until his retirement in 1988.

In the two years before he stood down, Mr Peet -- pictured accepting the nomination papers for Kenyan freedom fighter, Jomo Kenyatta, seated, to the legislative council -- served as Under Sheriff of Oxfordshire.

Born in India, where his father was a brigadier in the Indian Army, he was educated in England at Charterhouse, St John's College, Cambridge, and Brasenose College, Oxford.

In retirement he devoted himself to his horses, garden and his family.

He was an enthusiastic member of the Vale of Aylesbury Hunt, a field officer of the British Horse Society and a keen golfer. He was also a pillar of the church in his home village, Stadhampton.

Mr Peet leaves a wife and three children.

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