William (Bill) Johnston, whose humanist funeral took place on December 4, was one of Wandsworth Labour Party's longest serving councillors.

Members of his family paid tribute to Bill and were joined by Labour members, including Martin Linton, Battersea's MP, and Tony Belton, leader of Wandsworth's Labour Party.

Bill was elected for Balham ward in 1974, for Shaftesbury ward in 1978 and 1982 and for St Mary Park in 1986, serving a total of 16 years as a councillor.

He was born on April 12, 1919, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He was the sixth of 11 children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.

He joined the army at the start of World War II and saw action in India, north Africa and Italy. Indeed, when meeting Bill, even in his 80s, his military bearing was striking.

Mr Belton said: "I remember him telling me that he once marched with full kit from the then Bombay to Calcutta. I always found this a strange story as British India was famous for its railways and I could not believe that they could not find a troop train.

"When I asked his family about this at the funeral they laughed and told me that they had heard many versions of this story and that the cities changed indiscriminately.

"It was clearly just a sign of his mischievous sense of humour."

Not long after the war, Bill came to London, married Joyce in 1949 and lived on the old East Hill estate. When the council decided to demolish the estate he was re-housed in Westland Terrace, Balham, where he lived ever since.

Bill and Joyce had three children and four grandchildren.

Mr Belton said: "My experience of Bill was largely as a councillor and an Old' Labour stalwart. He was very warmly regarded by his constituents and by his fellow councillors, all of whom had the greatest respect for the sincerity and consistency of his political views."

Bill was very much a ward councillor and doing the best that he could for his constituents was at the heart of his views about what a councillor should be. He was living proof of the lie "that all councillors are in it for their own ends". Bill was totally committed to his constituents.

Bill was completely and totally loyal to his family, his friends and his party. However, he lost Joyce in 1991 and one of his sons, just two years ago. As an emotional man, he found these losses very hard to bear.