FORMER Mayor of Marlborough Jake Seamer, who was the last person to be made a Freeman of the town, has died at the age of 92.

Mr Seamer was a member of the old borough council and its successor town council. He served as mayor of the old borough council in 1963 and again in 1974, the year in which the town council was formed. Born in Somerset, he attended a prep school in Sevenoaks, Kent before he moved to Marlborough College in 1927.

As a student he played a full part in school life, enjoying rugby and soccer and especially cricket, which remained one of the loves of his life. After leaving school in 1932 he played a number of games for Somerset and was top of the batting averages.

That same year he went to Oxford to read history at Brasenose College. During his four years at university he played cricket and hockey as a Blue, captaining the Oxford XI.

While still at college he applied to join the Sudan Political Services in the days when the country was in a British protectorate.

As a district commissioner Mr Seamer also sat as a magistrate and judge and tried people for murder in the days of capital punishment. He returned to Britain and while re-visiting his old school was invited to return to teach.

In 1947 he married his late wife, Lettice, and they had one daughter Mary. In the late 1940s Mr Seamer joined the old Borough and became mayor in 1963. He was later elected to the position of alderman, recognition of his seniority on the council and continued to sit as a councillor until the late 1980s.

He was one of the last mayors to sit as a magistrate and continued to sit as a member and later chairman of the Marlborough Bench.

He served as a governor of all the town schools and was a staunch member of the town's Cricket Club, becoming its president.