HEARTFELT tributes have been paid to an ‘absolutely delightful’ Tabley centenarian who died at his retirement home.

Lord Foster Rochester, who turned 100 in June 2016, was described by staff at Tabley House Nursing Home as a ‘fantastic gentleman’.

His funeral took place in Northwich on February 17, followed by a service of thanksgiving at St John’s Church in Hartford, the village where he lived for many years with his wife, Mary Carlisle Weir.

Karen Lynskey, manager at Tabley House where Lord Rochester lived for years before he died, said: ““He was very popular, especially with the ladies- he had a whole harem of women who loved him to bits.

“He had an absolutely fantastic sense of humour, and he was a very humbling man.

“Everything he had been through, he still had time for anyone- and he had the most wicked laugh. The day before he passed away, he was still reminiscing about his life.”

“It was our pleasure to look after him, he was absolutely delightful. We have kept his seat at dinner- no one is allowed to sit in it yet.”

Lord Rochester was born in Surrey in 1916 and grew up in Croydon as one of six children with two brothers and three sisters.

Before serving in the Second World War as Captain Lord Rochester, second in command of a squadron of tanks; he studied History and Law at Cambridge University.

To celebrate his 100th birthday in June, 100 people turned out to a party at Leicester Warren Hall.

Speaking to the Guardian on his birthday, he said: “I have had a long and happy life. I have had some adventures, I was in the war, I was in the tanks. But the best thing was having such a good wife for 57 years.”

Lord Rochester met his wife, Mary Carlisle Weir in 1942 and the couple married a year later, having four children, David, Tim and Liz and a son who died of Leukaemia at the age of four.

The couple had eight grandchildren and seven great-granddaughters.

He also told the Guardian about his difficult time in the tanks in the Second World War.

“My tank was destroyed and the driver was killed,” he said. “A gunman in the same tank lost his leg. I escaped with only superficial burns to my face and hands. To be in charge, that was a lot of responsibility at such a young age.

“But looking back on life, you only remember the good things really.”