My stepfather Dennis Wardleworth, who has died aged 85, was a polymath whose remarkable life spanned nuclear physics, art history and a lifelong dedication to social justice through the Labour party.
Born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, during the second world war, the second of four children of Elizabeth (nee Hutton), a former jazz singer, and Harry Wardleworth, a transport engineer, Dennis enjoyed a happy if modest working-class upbringing. A gifted pupil, he won a scholarship to Bedford Modern school, excelling academically and at cricket, before reading natural sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. Specialising in theoretical physics, he worked at the Cavendish laboratory, and was tutored by Paul Dirac, the quantum pioneer.
Headhunted by the Atomic Energy Authority immediately after graduating, in 1962 Dennis began a 32-year career in atomic energy, first at Dounreay in Scotland, conducting fast reactor physics, then from the late 70s at the AEA research site at Winfrith in Dorset. He later pioneered computer modelling for the oil industry, developing 4D graphics software that took him around the world.
In 1970 Dennis married Pauline Dickson, with whom he had two children, Joe and Abby; the couple later divorced. In 1981 he married my mother, Mary Rose MacDonald, a teacher of English as a foreign language at King’s School of English in Bournemouth, becoming stepfather to my brother, Dan, and me.
Settling in Blandford Forum, Dorset, the couple became the driving force behind the local branch of the Labour party. According to friends, there would scarcely have been a Blandford branch without them: together they built it from the ground up to a membership of more than a hundred, knocking on doors and raising subscriptions tirelessly.
Dennis went on to serve as election agent for Jim Knight (now Lord Knight of Weymouth), helping to secure victories in both the 2001 and 2005 general elections – an achievement of which he was immensely proud. His commitment never wavered, and he remained treasurer of the North Dorset Labour party until a few months before his death.
In 1994 Dennis left physics behind to pursue his passion for art. He earned a second BA in art history with the Open University, and completed a PhD at Southampton Solent on corporate art patronage in interwar Britain. He became an authority on the sculptor William Reid Dick, publishing an acclaimed monograph in 2013, and served as honorary treasurer of the Association of Art Historians.
His many enthusiasms included cricket, classical guitar, travel, cooking – his grandchildren knew him as “Grandad Pasta” – and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Mary Rose died in 2006. Dennis is survived by Abby and Joe, Dan and me, and his grandchildren, Tom, Lucy, Bethany and Jay.
