Anti-war campaigner Brian Haw, who grew up in Whitstable, has died following a long illness.

The 62-year-old became famous for setting up home in a tent outside Parliament Square with his one-man protest. It began in June 2001 in response to the West’s economic sanctions against Iraq and eventually finished in March this year, when a High Court ruling obtained by Mayor of London Boris Johnson forced him to move on.

The former carpenter won critical acclaim as his protests continued in all weathers through the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007, he was voted Most Aspiring Political Figure in Channel 4’s Political Awards.

The father-of-seven died in Germany last Saturday after losing a long-term battle with lung cancer.

Born a twin and the eldest of five children in January 1949, he first lived in Barking before his family moved to Whitstable. As an evangelical Christian, he first realised his faith when joining a local church before joining the Merchant Navy as an apprentice deckhand at 16.