Humberside Geologist no 5
published 1986
Our Vice-President, Mr. Kenneth Fenton (aged 61) died suddenly at his home on Thursday 10th. October. Earlier that evening he had presided over the Members Evening of the Society, where a lecture was given about Thomas Sheppard, a leading member of the Society before the War.
Mr Fenton helped to reform the Hull Geological Society in 1961, when he became its President. He had been the Secretary of the Society for twelve years, until earlier this year. The Committee had hoped to recognise Ken's contribution to the Society by asking him to be the President in the Centenary year.
Ken was also an active member of the Hull Naturalists and a committee member of the Institute of Biology, Yorkshire Branch. He was well known in the fields of botany and ornithology.
His studies at the University College of Hull were interrupted by war service in the R.A.F. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Special Zoology, in 1950. He taught for almost 20 years at the Hull Grammar School and then became a lecturer at what is now the Hull College of Further Education at Queens Gardens. His teaching style was very direct and Ken had refined his techniques over the years to ensure that facts were put over in a straightforward and understandable manner.
He was a keen fossil collector and had given over l000 specimens to Hull Museum, more than any other individual since the war. His specialist collection of Yorkshire Jurassic fossil plants is the best outside London. He was an avid observer of natural history generally.
Ken was gentle and modest person, much respected by all who knew him. His wisdom and experience will be greatly missed by the Society.
He leaves a wife, two sons and two daughters.
Kenneth Fenton by Eric Chicken
Kenneth Febton and the Hull Geological Society by Mike Horne
copyright Hull Geological Society 2021