Major Terence Michael Tyler, known as Tim, was born on 21 February 1937.

He came up to New College from Parmiter’s School to read Modern Languages. After graduation Tim was commissioned into the King’s Own Shropshire Light Infantry and spent most of his army career abroad, serving in Malaya, Mauritius, Belize, Cyprus, Italy and Germany.

The highlight of his military career was the 5 years he spent in Rome, first at the Italian Staff College and subsequently two tours at the embassy as the Assistant Defence Attaché. He returned to his regiment in 1973 but found regimental life compared poorly with the glamour of the diplomatic round in Rome.

After a further tour at HQ 1 BR Corps he knew that he was seeking something the Army could not offer.

He used his resettlement entitlement to gain a TEFL qualification and bought a large Edwardian house in Dulwich, South London, with the intention of opening an English language school for foreign businessmen.

To furnish this house he took to visiting the London auction houses, and since he bought what he liked rather than what he needed he soon found himself with rather more than he required. Having asked a local antiques dealer to make an offer for the surplus he was shocked when he was offered substantially more than he had paid for nearly everything he had bought. And so, began an unexpected but very successful career as an antiques dealer.

In 1983 he moved his business to Malmesbury.

He quickly became immersed in the community life of the town and was elected to the town council in 1987 and subsequently became Mayor in 1991.

He co-founded and was later Chairman of the Malmesbury Preservation Trust.

He also wrote a Malmesbury diary that appeared in the Wilts and Glos Standard from 1996 to 2003.

He maintained his links with his military past and devoted considerable energy in particular to helping war disabled pensioners, serving from 1999 to 2002 as Chairman of the South West War Pensions Committee.

He retired to Cheltenham in 2003, dividing his time between there and his farmhouse in the Dordogne. 2014 saw the first of a long series of minor strokes and in 2016 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. He accepted his gradual decline with fortitude and good humour and sadly passed away on 15 January 2018, aged 80.

He is survived by Terry Freeman, his partner and companion of 43 years.