Former trade union firebrand Kenneth Gill, who was born in Melksham on August 30, 1927, to Ernest and Mary Gill, died last Saturday aged 81.
He left Chippenham secondary school at 16 to become an engineering apprentice in Gloucester, then worked as a draughtsman designer, project engineer and sales engineer. He joined the Communist Party in his early twenties.
In 1962 he was first elected to the union DATA, which later became TASS and in 1985 went on to form MSF.
He was also on the TUC general council for 18 years.
He was married three times: in 1953 to Jacqueline Manley (dissolved 1964), in 1967 to Tess Paterson (dissolved 1990), and in 1997 to Norma Bramley. Two sons and a daughter, all from his second marriage, survive him.
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