My father, David Smith, who has died aged 89, devoted much of his life to helping others in his home town of Burnley in Lancashire.
He was born in the town, the son of Fred, a slater, and Gladys (nee Topper), a housewife, and attended Burnley grammar school. Despite wanting to be a farmer, he completed a solicitor’s apprenticeship at Cooper, Smith and Williams, qualifying in 1955, and spent his whole career at the firm, eventually becoming a partner. He met his future wife, Caroline Vanstone, at a dinner dance in Manchester and they married in 1963. In 1977 he took over as HM coroner for east Lancashire, a role he retained until he retired, aged 70, in 2003.
