A STEELWORKER, whose career took him across the globe, has died at the age of 94.

John Stanton, of Zetland Mews, Saltburn, died last month.

Mr Stanton was apprenticed to the British Chilled Roll and Engineering Company, at Haverton Hill, at 16.

The eldest of five children, he became head of the family when his father died suddenly in 1931.

In his spare time in the Thirties, he owned two fishing boats and ran pleasure trips along the coast.

His career progressed despite suffering a serious accident in 1936 and by 1939 he was a foreman.

With the outbreak of war, he found himself in a reserved occupation and was not called up for military service.

He instead travelled to India to work for the Indian Ordnance Service in a rifle factory in Muradnagar.

Mr Stanton stayed in the country after the war, working at a senior level in a steel plant manufacturing rolling stock for the Indian Railways.

He married Lilian on his return to Britain in 1960. The couple had two children - Elizabeth Sedgwick, of Guisborough, and Jacqui Walker, of Richmond.

After his wife's death in 1990, Mr Stanton spent two years in Nigeria before returning to the region. He ended his career with British Steel, retiring in 1977. During his long retirement, he took up sea boat fishing once more.

A large congregation attended Mr Stanton's funeral at Saltburn Methodist Church. The service was conducted by Reverend Jim Platten.