WALTER Drax, the father of South Dorset MP Richard Drax, has died at the age of 89.

Henry Walter Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, also known as Wol, passed away on July 4. His family have owned Charborough Park north of Wareham for many centuries.

The youngest of five children and the only son of Admiral the Hon. Sir Reginald and Lady Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, Mr Drax was educated at the Dartmouth Royal Naval College and went to sea as a midshipman in 1945.

When his father died in 1967 he retired from the Royal Navy to become managing director of two private companies which ran the estate’s farming, forestry and other interests.

Mr Drax was a director of the Outward Bound School in Devon between 1970 and 1975 and was a governor of both Milton Abbey and Canford schools. He joined the board of visitors of Guys Marsh prison in 1969 and was a committee member of the Country Landowner’s Association as well as its representative on a county council sub-committee.

He became a magistrate at Wareham in 1971 and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the county in 1983 and High Sheriff five years later.

He was also churchwarden at the Morden and Almer churches and was a trustee of the Talbot Village Trust.

Mr Drax married Pamela Weeks, the daughter of Lord and Lady Weeks, in 1957, and they had sons, Richard, Jeremy, Charles, Mark and Edward.

He leaves his wife Pamela, five sons and 11 grandchildren. There will be a private cremation and details of a thanksgiving service will be announced at a later date.