Tower and Town, February 2020

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Family News: David Uttley

David Uttley passed away on 20th December 2019 at Prospect Hospice after a long illness. He was well known in the town and for many years took photographs for the cover of Tower and Town.

David was born in Halifax but moved around the country with his Quaker parents who cared for refugee children after the war. They moved to Bristol and then to Trowbridge where David went to the Grammar School. 

David trained as a teacher in London and taught there for a few years before returning to this area to work for the Marlborough Times as a photographer. He took up a post teaching agricultural science at Pewsey Vale School where he stayed for 21 years. During this time he was responsible for setting up a livestock unit where calves and pigs were looked after by the students and many a lamb was born there. Alongside this was a wildlife pond and area breeding wildfowl. Later he joined St. John’s School in Marlborough as a supply teacher. Besides teaching, David ran a very successful photography business with his wife, Dianne, taking pictures of countless weddings in the area as well as engaging in portraiture and commercial work.

David belonged to a number of organisations over the years, namely Round Table, Rotary, 41 Club and U3A. He was also on the committees of Marlborough Christmas Lights and Avebury Rocks, the latter raising money for the Prospect Hospice.

Shire publications produced a number of books in their ‘Discovering’ series including Somerset, Devon & Gloucestershire which were written by David and his wife, together with many more publications using his photographs. Later he produced Marlborough in Colour, a book of coloured photographs and information. This was followed by Marlborough People, a book for the millennium with photographs taken by David.

We send our condolences to his family and friends, by whom he will be sadly missed.

Jessy Pomfret