FORMER Royal Marines colour sergeant and physics teacher, Hugh Gray BEM, has died at the age of 76.

He was born in Colchester, Essex, on October 6, 1939 to his parents, John and Ellen Gray, as a younger brother to John.

Known for getting up to mischief as a boy, Hugh earned himself the nickname of Tink by family members as a short form for tinker.

He met his future wife, Brenda Ethel Allston, while attending school in Colchester aged 14 and as teenagers, they spent their summer holidays in youth hostels and sightseeing on a tandem bike.

After battling with his dyslexia throughout his education, he left school at 15 and completed five years as a blacksmith's apprentice at Colchester Tractors Ltd.

From there he joined the Royal Marines in 1961 and served abroad with the armed forces in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bahrain, during which time he earned the nickname Dolly Gray, from the Boer War anthem, Goodbye Dolly Gray.

He played water polo for the Navy and won the Generals Cup open water swimming competition during the 1960s and 1970s.

Hugh married Brenda in 1964 and the couple welcomed their only son, Mark, in 1967.

He left the Marines for a short time to join Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service in 1970, where he was based in Lyndhurst, before re-joining the Royal Marines the following year, working as a diving instructor based in Hamworthy.

He moved to Gillingham in 1975 and then went on to be stationed in a training role in Iran from October 1975 to January 1978.

The couple then moved to Motcombe in Dorset from 1980 where Brenda was actively involved in the local methodist church.

Hugh was awarded a BEM in 1984 and left the Royal Marines in 1989. He studied physics at Exeter University in 1993 and then took a position at the International College Sherborne School teaching physics until his retirement in 2012.

The Gray family moved back to Gillingham in 2000 and was pleased to welcome his granddaughters, Daisy and Heidi.

In his spare time he enjoyed swimming, cycling and baking. Hugh cared for his wife, Brenda, who was diagnosed with dementia in her later years before she died in February this year.

Hugh had been diagnosed with dementia in February last year. He died on August 10 and his funeral took place on Wednesday, August 31 at Poole Crematorium with donations going to Mindful and the SBSA (Special Boat Service Association).