Former St Albans Deputy Mayor and long-time councillor Clare Ellis has died at the age of 78.

Clare also had a long history of involvement in voluntary community roles after moving to St Albans with her husband Ted in January 1963.

The eldest child of Sir Michael and Nancy Perrin, Clare grew up in Hampstead and achieved a degree in French and a librarianship qualification before she married in 1960.

She had a six-month-old daughter Judith when the couple came to St Albans who was followed by three more children, Hilary, Adrian and Lucy.

Her voluntary work included becoming deputy county organiser for the hospital library service, secretary of Napsbury Hospital League of Friends and membership of the local health watchdog group, the Community Health Council.

In 1979 Clare secured the full-time position of secretary of the British Federation of University Women and she stood for the Conservatives in what weas perceived to be an unwinnable seat on St Albans district council.

She went on to serve three terms in office, representing three different wards, and was elected as Deputy Mayor in 1990-91. Despite the demands of her council work, her passion for the role of the volunteer and community work led to her chairing the board of governors in a secondary school as well as chairing Drugcare St Albans for six years.

Politics finally gave way to her interest in local history and she set up her own genealogy business, attracting some big name clients. She joined the St Albans and Herts Architectural & Archaeological Society in 1993 becoming president in 2005 as well as serving six years as secretary of the Herts Association for Local History.

She completed a certificate course in Local History at the Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education and a Master of Studies external degree. She also had two local history books published: The Pemberton Almshouses (2005) and Marshalswick: the story of a house and its estate (2008).

Clare lost her husband in 2006 and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the last decade of her life. She died peacefully on January 30 following a fall and a stroke.

The funeral will be held inSt Albans Cathedral at 11am next Tuesday, February 24.