A former leading Wimbledon tennis umpire, who lived in York for many years, has died after a short illness at the age of 83.

Bill Pickup, who died in Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, was born in Malton and educated at Nunthorpe School, York.

He lived in Bishopthorpe for some years before moving to Aldreth Grove, in Bishopthorpe Road.

After service in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, he joined London North East Railway (later part of British Rail) as a clerical officer in the York headquarters.

He was then promoted and worked in Middlesbrough in the 1960s, followed by a spell in Manchester where he worked for National Carriers and finally Freightliner, retiring as area sales manager for the North West in the mid-1980s.

A keen tennis player, he was a former member of Rowntree Park Tennis Club and was chairman of the York And District Doubles Tennis League, now the biggest league in Britain with 86 teams, from 1959-62 before giving up the post because of work commitments.

He became an umpire at Wimbledon in 1965 and officiated there for 37 years.

He took charge of the mixed doubles semi-final in 1977, a men’s doubles semi-final in 1978 and the women’s doubles final when Billy-Jean King and Martina Navratilova beat Betty Stove and Wendy Turnbull in 1979.

The following year, he umpired a women’s singles semi-final before taking charge of the final in 1981 when Chris Evert defeated Hana Mandlikova.

Latterly, he worked behind the scenes in the referee’s office where he became one of Britain’s best-known officials as he was in charge of giving out the scorebook to every umpire before they went on court.

When he was 15, he was awarded the highest honour as a boy Scout – the Silver Cross Cup, commonly known as the Scout VC – after jumping into the River Ouse and rescuing his dog.

Mr Pickup was a freemason, being an honorary member of the Crewe Lodge, Cheshire. He was also a member of Mensa.

A widower, Mr Pickup lived in Whaley Bridge, near Manchester in recent years. He leaves his partner, Pam Boone and one daughter, Jan, who lives in Wyoming, in the United States.