LONG-serving Poole GP Christopher Upton died at Poole Hospital, where he worked for many years, following a stroke on January 31, aged 83.

Dr Upton was born in Charlton, London, on May 5, 1930, and after leaving school he was conscripted into the army for several months, serving overseas in Egypt.

He studied medicine at King’s College Hospital, qualifying in 1955, and two years later he married Wendy, a staff nurse.

The pair spent a year in Camberley before moving to Poole, where Dr Upton took up a GP partnership with Dr Wilson Adam in 1959.

Their sons Paul and Andrew were born in 1961 and 1963.

The initially small General Practice grew substantially over the years with surgeries in Longfleet Road, Poole, and also in Hamworthy, Lytchett Matravers and Upton itself.

His career continued to develop as he became a GP trainer and then an examiner for the Royal College of General Practitioners, and subsequently he was awarded a Fellowship of the College.

He served as the senior partner of the practice for a number of years before retiring in 1991. The practice is now known as the “Adam Practice”.

The care of his patients, to whom he was enormously dedicated, was at the centre of all he did.

He worked in the diabetic clinic at Poole Hospital with Dr Ron Hill for many years, and continued to support the local branch of Diabetes UK long after his retirement.

For this work he was made an MBE in 2011, which he received at Windsor Castle on a memorable family day.

Outside work, Dr Upton pursued many interests including hockey, sailing, skiing, gardening, art, music and travel.

He did many gardening courses at Kingston Maurward which led to being involved in helping the Royal Marines with their memorial garden on Emmet’s Down on the Purbecks.

He also felt privileged to spend time with his five grandchildren, Charles, Sophie, James, Jennifer and Matthew, to whom he was ‘papa’.

Despite good health through the majority of his retirement he recently suffered a series of strokes, leading to his death last month. His family praised the efforts of the Poole Stroke Team, who cared for him.

A funeral service will be held at the Church of the Holy Angels in Lilliput on Monday, February 17. Donations, to the British Diabetic Association or the Poole Stroke Unit, can be made via Tapper Funeral Service, Parkstone Road, Poole.