ONE of Britain's most distinguished scholars and former reverend of a Westbourne church, Rev Alec Motyer, has died aged 91.

Born in Dublin in 1924, John Alexander Motyer, known as Alec, lived with his grandmother, Catherine Nelson, until the age of seven, who was a devout Christian and taught Alec the scriptures, which led him to becoming Christian at age of 15.

He studied classics and philosophy at Trinity College in Dublin and then studied theology. He left Ireland to come to England, where he became ordained minister in the Church of England and spent a year as the curate at St Philip's Church in Wolverhampton.

In 1948, he married his wife, Beryl, and together they welcomed two sons, Stephen and Mark and a daughter, Kate.

The family moved to Bristol where Alec took up his first teaching post at Clifton Theological College. At the same time, he was curate at Holy Trinity Church in Bristol and became vice-principal of the college in 1954.

We was the speaker at numerous churches and conventions including the Keswick Convention and the Southern Counties Convention.

In 1965, he became the vicar of St Lukes Church in Hampstead and Old Testament editor of the IVP New Bible commentary.

He was also a prolific writer of Christian literature and penned 14 books during his life including The Prophecy Of Isaiah, which was published in 1993 and went on to win the Book of the Year award from the Christian Booksellers Association.

In 1981, he moved to Bournemouth to become the vicar of Christ Church in Alumhurst Road in Westbourne, where the church is said to have grown 'under his gentle and encouraging ministry'.

During his time at the church, he was well known for his Wednesday morning bible expositions, which drew people from churches across the town.

On his retirement in 1989, he was presented with an Apple Mac computer by his parishioners, which he was said to have been determined to teach himself to use.

In later years he moved to Poynton, Cheshire, to be closer to his daughter. His wife, Beryl, died in 2010.

Mr Motyer died on August 26 and his funeral took place on September 9 at St George's Church in Poynton.