In 1952 Robert Gambles became senior history teacher at the Merchant Taylors’ school, Crosby, in Liverpool, where he remained for 31 years. I was a pupil of RHG – the staff were usually referred to by their initials in those days – and was slightly in awe of him. He could let fly a stern rebuke if you touched a sore spot. But I am immensely grateful to Robert, who has died aged 99, as the teacher with responsibility for guiding and coaching many generations of boys towards Oxford and elsewhere.
Although not an eccentric History Boys-style teacher, he was a respected force in the school. As we later agreed, he knew he had failed to ignite in me an enthusiasm for history, but he helped me on my way to study English at Oxford.
In retirement he began a second career, writing more than 16 books, many about the history of the Lake District and its placenames, on which he became a recognised authority. In 2013 he published Great Tales from British History and, in 2014, reflecting his wife Hannemor’s heritage, Espen Ash Lad: Folk Tales from Norway.
When Robert was born, he had only one fully functioning lung and sight in only one eye. His mother was advised not to expect him to live more than five years. It is all the more remarkable, then, that he died two months short of his 100th birthday. He was born in Woodville, Derbyshire, to William Gambles, an industrial blacksmith, and Elizabeth (nee Bennett), who was in domestic service until her marriage. Robert and his two sisters were the first generation of the family to take up higher education.
Robert went to Ashby-de-la-Zouch grammar school in Leicestershire, and from there, with an open scholarship in modern history, to St John’s College, Oxford, in the middle of the second world war. His first professional teaching post was at King’s Ely, an independent school in Cambridgeshire. While there, he met Hanna Hanssen-Lange (known as Hannemor), a Norwegian au pair, and they married in 1949. Their three sons – Brian, Peter and Ian – all attended Merchant Taylors’ school, with Brian taught directly by his father.
In 1983, Robert retired to Cumbria, living in Kendal. He joined the committee of the Friends of the Lake District, arguing and campaigning for the protection of the natural environment. His passion for the Lake District had started many years before. He enjoyed fell-walking all his active life, especially with Hannemor, to whom he was happily married until her death in 2008.
Robert lived independently in Kendal until just after his 99th birthday, when he moved to the Midlands to be nearer to his family.
He is survived by his sons, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
