Old Waconian David Neylan (1946-53) has died aged 91.

He came from humble beginnings: his great-grandparents were Irish immigrants who died in the Withington workhouse; his grandfather was a labourer who dropped dead aged 47 outside a pub (also in Withington) and his father was a factory worker with the bicycle company Renold Chain in Stockport. His mother died from tuberculosis in 1939 when he was three, leaving him to be brought up by his father and aunts in Cheadle Hulme.

He won a scholarship to the school and went on to Edinburgh University, where he achieved a First in Chemistry – one of only five Firsts conferred in science that year. He went on to work with the Metropolitan Police, ultimately becoming Director of the forensic science lab in Aldermaston. He is survived by two of his four sons.

In his later years he always spoke highly of the school and the opportunities it had given him that were previously denied to boys of his social class.