A Watford Quaker and former journalist has died at the age of 98.

Geoffrey Bould died following a short illness at Luton and District Hospital in the afternoon of February 24.

He lived in Watford during his later years but was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, on June 13, 1920.

During the 1930s, Mr Bould’s family moved to Blackpool, where his father became a hotelier, but when Mr Bould left Blackpool Grammar School in 1937 he returned to Leeds to pursue a career as a journalist and worked for the Yorkshire Post and later The Guardian.

When war broke out in 1939 he enlisted in the British Army and served with the 7th Armoured Brigade — otherwise known as the Desert Rats — in North Africa, Burma and Italy.

In 1945 he returned to his parents’ home in Blackpool and joined the Ministry of Pensions. He met and married Kathleen Goodwin in 1947 and they had two sons, Stephen and Martin.

At the age of 43 Mr Bould’s career in the civil service took him to London, and the family moved to Watford in 1965.

During their time in the town, both Geoffrey and Kathleen became members of the Watford Meeting of the Society of Friends.

The life and fellowship of the Quakers subsequently became the driving force for the remainder of their lives.

In 1982, Mr Bould left the civil service at a time of government cutbacks, and returned his first passion of journalism, which he had abandoned in 1939.

He produced articles and interviews about politics, poetry, religion, and his Yorkshire boyhood that were published in range of magazines and newspapers including The Guardian.

He was a co-founder of Interfaith News and edited the magazine from 1982 to 1989.

He also began collecting and editing writings by prisoners of conscience, which he turned into the Conscience Be My Guide anthology, which was published in 1991.

In 2009 he published a poetry collection called Shadows.

During the same year his wife Kathleen, who had been unwell for some time, died at the age of 85.

He is survived by his two sons and grandchildren Ellie and by Harry.

Watford Observer:

Geoffrey and Kathleen

There will be a memorial meeting at 2.30pm on April 8 at the Friends (Quakers) Meeting House, in Church Road, Watford.