My husband, Chris Howes, who has died aged 64 of oesophageal cancer, leaves much behind him – cast ironwork from his chosen career, and a range of benefits to communities, particularly in the Cambridgeshire towns of St Neots and Chatteris, where he served as a Liberal Democrat town councillor. Chris also strove for improvements to and better maintenance of countrywide waterway systems. He wrote many articles and boating guides. He was an adept oarsman and over the years was a member of rowing clubs at Bedford, St Neots and Ely.
Born in Barnet, north London, to Monica (nee Stent) and Walter Burnett, Chris was initially raised by his mother, who set up a secretarial and translation business to support them. She planned to emigrate to Australia with Chris in 1967 to start a new life, but instead stayed to marry Hugh Howes, a town planner, with Chris taking his surname. Chris was educated at Magdalen College school, Oxford, and Bedford Modern school, then studied photography in Nottingham.
Rather than paying rent while studying, Chris borrowed money and bought a Victorian house to restore and let rooms to fellow students. He and a builder friend carried out the work. When he wanted to replace the Victorian railings and gates he could find no source, so he studied the Victorian methods, found cast iron foundries still in operation, and in his early 20s he set up in this niche business himself, under the name Period Ironwork Ltd.
His many prestigious contracts included the installation of unclimbable railings and a weather vane at Buckingham Palace, and the restoration of the frieze atop the Natural History Museum. Gates and railings restored or created by Chris stand across Britain and beyond, although the company eventually closed.
Chris and I met in St Neots in 1995 when we had both put ourselves forward as Lib Dem candidates for election to the town council. We set up home together later that year and finally got around to marrying in 2010.
When in 1997 Chris mentioned to the carnival committee that St Neots’ beautiful wide river was perfect for dragon boat racing, their response was to ask if Chris could set it up. He and I organised the first two events together, and an annual dragon boat festival has continued ever since. In Chatteris, a medieval festival established by Chris and friends has now evolved into a midsummer festival.
In recent years he strove to achieve improvements and greater access to inland waterways, highlighting the huge benefits such corridors can provide – both to the public for leisure and health, and to wildlife. In 2015 he and I bought a narrow boat and joined the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), which Chris served as deputy national chairman, eastern region chairman, Peterborough branch chairman and as a trustee.
He assisted with the passage through parliament in 2018 of the Middle Level bill, which enabled the Middle Level Commissioners, a land drainage authority in the Fens, to charge a licence fee for boaters, thus providing funds to improve safety and facilities. Chris’s evidence to the parliamentary committee is recorded in Hansard. He also wrote two guides to local waterways, Fenland Waterways (2020) and The River Great Ouse and Its Tributaries (2021), illustrated with his own photographs.
He is survived by me, our children, Verity and Luke, and grandchildren, Max and Monty, and by his father, Hugh, and sister, Natasha.
