Andrew Hartley
Auctioneer
ANDREW HARTLEY, who has died at 75, was the third generation of a well- known family of auctioneers in Ilkley, whose grandfather co- founded the firm that grew into the biggest independent company of chartered surveyors in
Yorkshire, Dacre, Son and Hartley.
Under Mr Hartley’s leadership, the auctioneering business became a separate entity, specialising in the sale of toys, fine wines, port and whiskies.
Born in Menston, he moved
as a child to the Manor House at Askwith, attending Ghyll Royd School and then gaining a scholarship to Worksop College.
He returned to Wharfedale after graduating from Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read politics and then land economy, and performed in revues for the Cambridge Light Entertainment Society.
His larger than life persona saw him punting up and down the River Cam in a straw boater
and Mr Toad jacket, selling tickets for the next varsity show.
Back in Ilkley, he became a JP, sitting for 30 years in the criminal and family courts. He was also president of the local Rotary Club and chairman of the Ilkley mixed voice choir, Cantores Olicanae.
In the early 1980s he was in charge of the town’s Chamber of Trade and Commerce and for several years was chairman
and president of the Friends of Bolton Abbey. An active churchgoer and fundraiser, he was the parish representative on the diocesan advisory committee and organised parish trips to cathedrals, other churches and stately homes. He went to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage and twice to Assisi.
He is survived by his wife, Anna, eight children and 20 grandchildren.