Sir Henry Lawson-Tancred

Realising the possibility of a world oil crisis following the Yom Kippur war, Sir Henry built three wind generators on his estate in Yorkshire – each one a prominent local landmark and each with a diameter of about 17 metres.

The first such machine – built in 1976 – was the largest of its kind to be constructed in the UK since the 1950s.

It and its successors were a reflection of growing worldwide interest in alternative energy and were built ahead of their time.

They were designed with novel hydraulic systems that enabled variable speed turbines to be connected to the national grid.

The third and last wind generator was constructed in the 1980s with funding from the Overseas Development Agency. It was a stand-alone machine with a hydraulic transmission system that operated as a fuel-saver on a diesel generator, designed especially for remote areas.

Before his career in engineering, Sir Henry served in the RAF's Bomber Command at the end of the war, flying several missions in Lancasters over occupied Europe and Germany.

His older brother, Andrew, was shot down and killed in 1944. Sir Henry inherited the Lawson-Tancred baronetcy ahead of his twin brother, Christopher, who also served as a pilot during the war.

On leaving the RAF at the end of the war, Sir Henry served as a transport pilot in India in the run-up to partition. Returning home, he read engineering at Cambridge where his interests in technological innovation, aviation and the motor industry were close to his heart.

Working as a qualified engineer from his home near Boroughbridge, Sir Henry – a land-owning and slightly eccentric character with a passion for all things mechanical – pioneered a device known as a Carstack.

This curious looking structure stored cars in containers as a means of saving space in busy town and city centres.

He sold the design to the engineering company, Inchcape, who used the technology in their container storage division.

Throughout his life Sir Henry remained a keen engineer and was seldom without his tools. In a famous incident in 1983, he was able to lend an adjustable spanner to the captain of a hovercraft on which he was travelling so that he and other passengers could escape from the prospect of being stranded in the English Channel.

From his home in Aldborough Manor, near Boroughbridge, Sir Henry, who died on March 28, was throughout a devoted family man. His first wife, Jean, died in 1970 and he is survived by his second wife Susan and his six children, two step-daughters and 11 grandchildren.