Sir John Ropner

Ropner’s grandfather, Robert, had emigrated from Germany in 1857. He was bound for Australia but, on finding himself on the wrong ship and disembarking in West Hartlepool, decided to stay. He thrived, became an MP and was knighted. He developed his own merchant shipping business, Sir R Ropner and Co, which stayed in the family in various incarnations until the 1990s.

His tree-loving son, Leonard, enlisted in 1914 and enjoyed a successful career as a soldier in the Artillery. In 1923, he became MP for Sedgefield (which Tony Blair would later represent) and then in 1931 for Barkston Ash. He had bought Thorp Perrow in 1927 and began to set out his arboretum, gradually planting (if one includes both species and garden varieties) more than 2,500 different kinds of tree and shrub. It was a private passion, perhaps suggested initially by the Pinetum (a collection of conifers of many kinds) close to Thorpe Perrow House, planted in the 1840s by the then owner, Lady Augusta Millbank.

Ropner sought out plants as true collectors do, mostly in single specimens, grouping together the various species of each genus, if they were large trees, to form a group or avenue, if they were small like Japanese maples, to line a woodland glade and provide a splash of autumn colour. His plants came from temperate climates worldwide — America, China, Japan, Chile and Europe.

His son, John, a charming, if slightly eccentric man, entertained visitors to the estate by firing croquet balls on to the lawn from old cannons outside the beautiful 18th-century mansion that adjoined the arboretum. A lover of fireworks who was liable to set one off at any given moment, Ropner self-depracatingly described his enterprise, which included a tea room, shop and falconry centre, as “slightly amateurish”. Nonetheless, visitors streamed in — including harassed motorists seeking tree-hugging repose, and a free cup of tea, to break the monotony of a long drive up the nearby A1. His father’s cherished legacy was preserved and opened up for the public to enjoy. Ropner developed his own deep love of trees. His personal favourite was Acer griseum (the Chinese paper bark maple) because of its “wonderful bark and beautiful autumn colour”.

John Bruce Woollacott Ropner was born in 1937 to Sir Leonard Ropner and his wife Esmé (née Robertson). He was schooled at Eton, where he was captain of boxing and was awarded a rowing scholarship to St Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. National Service followed, after which he trained as an accountant with Peat Marwick before joining the family firm based in Darlington, where he ran its commercial property arm.

After inheriting Thorp Perrow, he took a hands-on role at the head of a small staff. Arboreta are cheap to plant (land costs apart), but with every passing year the costs rise. What once was a job for secateurs now requires a tree surgeon trained in rope work. Above all, there arises the need to thin the trees and make hard decisions about what should stay and what should go.

Ropner may not have known much when he started, but he knew a man who did. He enlisted Britain’s most eminent tree expert, Alan Mitchell, notorious for his wild grey hair and insistence on wearing sandals in all weathers. It was Mitchell who set up the Tree Register of the British Isles, which first began recording “champion trees”; in 2004, Thorp Perrow was home to 67.

Ropner also recruited John Beach, first of Thorp Perrow’s several curators, to help him sort it out and identify all the species in the jungle. A Department of Environment grant for repair was secured on condition of public opening.

Ropner mucked in with the planting and mowing (even in his last years he was happy to wield a chainsaw). Garden courses were established along with a Bird of Prey and Mammal Centre, offering for families a Meerkat Island and Walk Through Wallaby Wood.

Thousands of daffodils, crocuses, special snowdrops and bluebells were planted, hydrangeas for high summer, and more trees for autumn colour. Through careful maintenance, the turf of the woodland rides and glades became rich in naturally occurring wild flowers. The five national collections in which the arboretum excelled were registered with Plant Heritage and include lime, ash, cotinus, walnut and laburnum. The Millbank Pinetum and 16th-century Spring Wood were added to the visitor circuit and much was made of the ancient oak, reputedly planted by Henry VIII’s last wife, Catherine Parr, when, as a girl, she lived at Snape Castle, near by.

Roper was married three times. With his first wife, Anne Delme-Radcliffe, whom he married in 1961, he had two daughters: Kate and Jenny. The marriage ended in divorce. With his second wife, Auriol Mackeson-Sandbach, whom he married in 1970, he had three children: Carolyn, Henry and Annabel. The marriage also ended in divorce and she later married the Marquess of Linlithgow. He is survived by his third wife, Nicola, whom he married in 1996. All his children survive him. His son Henry has taken over the running of the estate.

Ropner was active in local affairs, as High Sheriff of North Yorkshire and founder of the Yorkshire Children Hospital’s Fund. He lived to enjoy one final autumn as his trees shed their leaves in a kaleidoscope of fiery reds, russets, oranges and golds. Some 700 appreciative local people attended his funeral. They were warned that if they wore black they would be turned back.

Thorp Perrow has been described by the Royal Horticultural Society as the most important arboretum in the north of England. There remain heartbreaking decisions to be made about thinning the jostling rarities, yet it remains a friendly, educative and inspiring place, thanks in great part to John Ropner.

Sir John Ropner, owner of Thorp Perrow Arboretum, was born on April 16, 1937. He died of cancer on February 13, 2016, aged 78