Richard Ensor

We are sorry to announce that Richard Peter Ainslie Ensor has passed away. The following obituary is courtesy of his family

Richard Peter Ainslie Ensor, MA (Cantab), died on 18 May 2026 at Wexham Park Hospital following a  short illness, surrounded by his family. He was 89.

Born in Havant, Hampshire, on 15 December 1936, Richard spent much of his childhood during the  Second World War while his father was serving in the Army. Periods of ill health led to much of his  early education being undertaken at home by his mother, fostering a lifelong love of reading, history  and literature. He later attended Gayhurst School and Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, where  his academic interests increasingly centred on English literature and history.

After National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps, during which he was commissioned as a  Second Lieutenant, Richard came up to Trinity Hall in 1958 to read Law, graduating in 1961. His years at the Hall forged friendships that endured for more than six decades, among them Colin Colston,  Don Rattee and Paul Fairest. While the law provided the framework for a successful professional  career, a lifelong enthusiasm for history remained one of the defining interests of his intellectual life.

Following qualification as a solicitor, Richard joined the Chesham firm Illiffes in 1966. Through a  succession of mergers, culminating in the firm becoming IBB and later part of Knights, he spent the  remainder of his professional life there, serving as assistant solicitor, partner, senior partner and  consultant. He specialised in agricultural estate conveyancing and was involved in significant  transactions across England and Wales, including the sale of the Sutton Bridge Estate in Lincolnshire,  which had been owned by Guy’s Hospital and later by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Although he enjoyed a distinguished legal career, Richard’s greatest interests lay beyond the law. A  keen historian with an extensive personal library, he devoted much of his retirement to researching  his family’s history. His work went well beyond genealogy: he sought to understand the lives, relationships and social circumstances of earlier generations, tracing family stories into wider themes  of social mobility, industry and local history during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Bringing a lawyer’s analytical approach to his research, he delighted in investigating unexplained  details and testing theories against the historical record.

Family was central to Richard’s life. In 1962 he married Wendy-Ann Suter, with whom he shared more than six decades of marriage until her death in 2023. Together they raised three children and were  later blessed with eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In retirement they travelled  extensively, often combining their enjoyment of travel with visits to family members living overseas in China, Azerbaijan and Bangladesh.

Richard will be remembered for his intellectual curiosity, thoughtful judgement, loyalty to family and  friends, and his deep knowledge of history. His ability to place contemporary events in their historical context, together with his generosity in sharing his learning with others, left a lasting impression on  all who knew him. He is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.