A DESCENDANT and historian of an old Worcestershire family has died in Australia at the age of 83.

Bruce Walkden Thomas was a fourth generation descendant of the Thomas Wythes, of Dunhampstead, near Droitwich, who emigrated to Australia in 1839.

His interest in the Wythes family led him to compile a family tree and history, The Wythes Family of Hill End, which he presented to Droitwich Library.

He found 400 descendants of the family in Australia in 1971.

Local historian Nellie Copson, of High Street, Droitwich, met him when he visited the town in 1988 and kept up a correspondence with him until he suffered a stroke.

He died in his sleep from heart failure in April, but Miss Copson only heard of it this month, in a letter from his wife, Enid.

"I remember his auntie, Dorothy Brewster, who kept a haberdasher's shop in Droitwich High Street, but unfortunately she died before Mr Thomas came to visit," said Miss Copson.

Mrs Brewster's family had been well known in Droitwich as her father, Tom Wythes, and his brothers, George and John, had all kept shops in the High Street - a tea store, a haberdasher's and a wine and grocery store.

Miss Copson said the family, descended from the "Withyse", of Hanbury, near Droitwich, whose family motto is "secondis dubisque rectus," meaning "straight in weal or woe".

Their coat of arms can be seen in the tower of St Peter's Church, Droitwich.

"This ancient family can trace their family tree back to a Mercian Queen, which is feasible, as there was a Mercian palace at Wychbold in AD 815," she said.