HE was a proud lifelong resident of Southampton who was honoured to serve as the mayor of his beloved city.

Reginald Dennis Harryman, a highly respected Labour councillor for a decade, dedicated much of his life to helping others and championing the underdog.

Dennis or Denny, as he was known, passed away suddenly last month at the age of 86.

Born in Fair Oak in 1934, he joined the Navy as a merchant seaman after leaving Richard Taunton's Grammar School. He travelled the world, mainly crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth and the Mauritania. Dennis was in New York when he heard news of the birth of his first child and in Havana when the Cuban Revolution succeeded.

At the age of 18, he met the woman who would be his wife for nearly 65 years. Dennis and Nadina, known as Dingle, married in 1955 and had two children, Melanie and Darren.

The family lived in Kingsland, then St Mary's while Dennis worked at Southampton Docks. As he was initially temporary, he did other jobs including window cleaner and labourer and, in one day as a dustman, he managed to get his colleagues out on strike over poor working practices. After Dennis became a permanent stevedore at the Docks, they bought their first house in Bitterne and he would cycle to work where he was also a shop steward.

Dennis loved football, playing for Kings Park and St Denys Metals and managing clubs including Winsor United, where he, son Darren and grandson Denni played in the same team.

After 20 years with the TGWU, latterly as District Secretary, he retired in 1999 and became a councillor, representing Harefield then Redbridge. Dennis was honoured to be Mayor of Southampton for a year from 2004, fulfilling hundreds of engagements all over the city.

After living for many years in Bassett, Dennis and his beloved wife were reunited in an Ashurst care home for their twilight years, prior to her death in 2020.

He leaves two children, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.