ERNEST Gilpin, a teacher who educated hundreds of difficult and challenging pupils, has died aged 92.
He and his wife, Ira, educated boys in care during their 25 years as head and matron of Nortonthorpe Hall school at Scissett.
The couple taught more than 500 youngsters.
Mr Gilpin was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, into a strict Methodist family.
His mother took in washing to earn money to keep him at grammar school.
His first teaching post was in the town after he qualified at the College of St Mark and St John, Chelsea.
He was a member of the National Association of Schoolmasters and eventually became president of the Yorkshire branch.
During the Second World War Mr Gilpin served in the Royal Artillery, reaching the rank of captain.
Mrs Gilpin's father was one of the organisers of the Jarrow hunger march in 1936 and both she and her husband held strong political views.
Mr Gilpin was a councillor and chairman of Colne Valley Liberals.
When the couple retired to north Devon, he served 10 years as a district councillor.
The Gilpins taught some of the most challenging pupils in the system. Some of them had been abused.
They began their work at Claremont House in Bristol, before moving to Oakbank House, Keighley, in the 1950s.
They then settled at Nortonhorpe Hall.
Some time after they retired, a survey of boys they had taught showed 98% of them had found a place in society.
Mrs Gilipn died in 1985 at the age of 70.
The couple's daughter, Jeanette, and her family survive Mr Gilpin.
