THE former headmaster of a leading Lake District school has died following a freak accident at his home.

Michael Jenkins is believed to have fallen from a ladder while putting up a bird box in the garden of his home at Underbarrow.

Father-of-three Mr Jenkins, 77, affectionately known as Mr J by his pupils, was headmaster at Windermere St. Anne’s School, now known as Windermere School, for 16 years.

When he took charge in 1972, he became only the second male headmaster of an all-girls’ school in the country.

His widow Karen described the incident where Mr Jenkins fell as ‘a terrible accident’.

Mr Jenkins had two daughters, Kirste and Susy, a son, Tom, and ten grandchildren.

“He was very charismatic and was loved by everybody,” she said.

“He loved that school and parents found him very approachable.

"His study door was always open for the girls and he was always there for them.”

Paul Flint, bursar of Windermere School, said: “Whenever there has been a school reunion he’s known to everybody and particularly to the students.

"He’s had a very large and influential impact on students’ futures and I think they are very grateful for that.”

Anne and John Sowerby, whose four girls attended the school, said Mr Jenkins was a ‘brilliant and outstanding head’ in a letter to Mrs Jenkins.

“He helped them all enorm-ously with his scholarly, fatherly advice and was particularly kind and compassionate.”

Before becoming headmaster, Mr Jenkins was housemaster at the prestigious Gordonstoun, Scotland, where Prince Charles and the Duke of Edinburgh were both educated.

It was also the place where he was taught after his family moved up to Scotland from London.

He studied geography at Oxford University, becoming president of the athletics club during his time there.

It was through his sport that he travelled to Canada in 1957, where he met Karen.

He returned to marry her a year later, before moving to Scotland in 1960.

Mr Jenkins looked after sheep and lambs at his Underbarrow farmhouse, and was a keen sculptor and artist.

Elizabeth Eaton, former arts director at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh, said Mr Jenkins was one of the nicest men she had ever worked with when putting on his solo gallery show between May and July last year.

Mrs Jenkins has requested that anybody wishing to donate money should give to the Meningitis Trust, in memory of Mr Jenkins’s grandson Nelson, who died when he was 19.

Go to http://meningitis-trust.tributefunds.com/fund/Nelson+Jenkins/showFund.