AUBREY Martin, former chairman of the Abingdon branch of the Royal British Legion, has died aged 79.

Mr Martin, from Ladygrove Paddock in Abingdon, was born in Eynsham, but moved to Jericho in Oxford with his family as a young boy. He spent most of his working life at the Cowley car plant.

At the end of the Second World War, in which he served with the Army in the Devon and Dorset Regiment in Italy, Mr Martin joined the legion in Oxford, serving on the committee. He was also a member of the Annesley Masonic Lodge in Oxford and the Jersey Lodge in Bicester. On his retirement from British Leyland, Mr Martin worked on maintenance at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and later at the William Dunn School of Pathology.

He and his late wife Hilda moved from their home in Botley to Abingdon six years ago and Mr Martin became involved in town organisations, joining both the legion and Conservative clubs.

At his funeral at Oxford crematorium there will be a standard bearer from the legion and the exhortation will be read by the president of the Abingdon branch, Stan Bradford, who praised Mr Martin as a dedicated legion member.

Mr Martin, who had no children, is survived by his brother, Cyril, who lives in Blackbird Leys, and sister Sheila Charlton, from Botley.

No date for the funeral was available.