A BENEVOLENT multi-millionaire has left almost £1m to a national charity for the blind.

Scientist and lawyer Dr Graham Daryl Clifford Rushton, of Hutton Towers, Hutton Rudby, died at a nursing home in Northallerton in April, following a long period of declining health. He was 82.

His estate, valued at £3,214,149 net, is to be divided between the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), St Catharine's College, Cambridge, All Saint's Church, Hutton Rudby, and various individuals.

Eifron Hopper, head of legacies at the RNIB, said the charity expected to receive about £900,000 from Dr Rushton's will - one of the largest donations in its history.

He said: "We are very excited that Dr Rushton has chosen to remember us in this way.

"All gifts, large or small, are always welcome, but an amount as large as this sets the pulses racing."

The will stipulated that £150,000 of the donation should go towards training a blind English law student intending to practice in the UK.

At the age of 20, Dr Rushton obtained a first-class degree in chemistry at Cambridge University, but an accident during some laboratory experiments left him blind in one eye.

He went on to study law and qualified for a legal career on the staff of ICI, working for many years from Teesside on safeguarding its patents.

Dr Rushton's work led him to countries all over the world, to which he travelled with his wife, Jeanette, a teacher of ancient languages at the Friends' School, Great Ayton.

Canon David Lickess, of All Saints' Church, Hutton Rudby, also welcomed the donation of £10,000 towards the church's fabric fund.

He said: "As vicar of the church, I am very grateful for this generous donation.

"All medieval churches continually need repair and maintenance, and this will be a great help when the next work is needed."

Dr Rushton also paid to have the cross on the church's west end roof repaired a few years ago in memory of his wife, who died in 1998.

St Catharine's College, Cambridge, has been instructed to set up a Rushton Fellowship in chemistry with the £250,000 bequeathed in the will.