Edward (Ted) Charles Richard Fawcett O.B.E., (22 September 1920 – 19 October 2013) was a promoter of garden history, conservationist and head of public relations at The National Trust. [1] [2] [3]
Fawcett was born near Glasgow in 1920 and raised in Harrogate. His parents were Harold and Una Fawcett. He attended Northaw boarding school and at Uppingham School. [4] He spent three months in Paris learning French before returning to Glasgow to work as an accountant with his mother's family's firm, McClelland Kerr. [2] He joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a temporary midshipman, [5] later commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant. [6]
During World War II, Fawcett served in motor launches in Gibraltar and later moved to Escort destroyers as a Gunnery Control Officer. He took part in Operation Pedestal, a mission to deliver supplies to the besieged island of Malta, serving on HMS Bramham from the end of 1941, which towed the tanker Ohio into Malta. He spent one night in a boat saving survivors from the Santa Eliza from an oil-slicked sea. [1] [2] [7] In 1943 he was Temporary Lieutenant on HMS Talybont. [8] He served in the Atlantic, the Far East, in North Africa and in the D-Day landings.
He left the Navy in 1947 and worked for Shell, where he went to the London School of Economics to study personnel management, and then at Joseph Lucas, a producer of car electrics, and became its overseas director. He took a degree in art history and French at Birkbeck, University of London. [1]
He joined the Garden History Society (GHS) soon after it was formed in 1966. He was chairman 1973 to 1976 and 1988 to 1995; he was made vice-president in 2011. [2] [3]
He was appointed first director of public relations at the National Trust in 1969. He promoted gardens and the rural landscape, not just the houses, and did much to popularise the Trust by introducing innovations such as free entry to properties for members, annual handbooks, cafés and shops. By the time that he left in 1984 membership had increased to over a million. [2] In the 1989 New Year Honours he was appointed OBE for services to the National Trust. [9]
In collaboration with the architect Gordon Ballard he set up a residential course on the conservation of historic gardens at West Dean College, in West Sussex, which ran from 1978 to 1984. With the Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) he later set up a postgraduate course in garden conservation; his wife Jane was working there on the AA Building Conservation course. [10]
After his retirement he continued with the management of the Osterley Park and House, and, concerned about the neglect of Chiswick House Grounds, in 1984 he became the first chairman of Chiswick House Friends; [2] they commissioned a bench in his memory. [11]
He served on committees of the International Council on Monuments and Sites. [1] He was a Trustee of the London Parks and Gardens Trust. [12]
Fawcett married Jane Hughes (1921 – 2016) [13] [2] during World War II and they had two children; Carolin (b 1951), an opera singer, and James (b 1950), an experimental neurologist. [14] [2] The family lived in Hampstead. He stood in the 1982 Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council election for the Alliance party.
His funeral service was at St Peter's Church, Petersham. [3]
He also wrote poetry, having five volumes privately published, and was a dowser. [15]
Chiswick is a district in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Fuller's Brewery, London's largest and oldest brewery. In a meander of the River Thames used for competitive and recreational rowing, with several rowing clubs on the river bank, the finishing post for the Boat Race is just downstream of Chiswick Bridge.
William Kent was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, but his real talent was for design in various media.
Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753), and completed in 1729. The house and garden occupy 26.33 hectares. The garden was created mainly by the architect and landscape designer William Kent, and it is one of the earliest examples of the English landscape garden.
John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute, KT, was a Scottish peer.
James Quentin Hughes, was an architect and academic. He was a British SAS officer during the Second World War, and was influential in the preservation of Liverpool's Victorian and Edwardian architectural heritage.
The New Year Honours 2004 were appointments by some of the Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January.
The New Year Honours 2012 were announced on 31 December 2011 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Belize, Saint Christopher and Nevis, The Solomon Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and The Cook Islands, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2012.
Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to the London Gazette and many are conferred by the monarch some time after the date of the announcement, particularly for those service people on active duty.
The New Year Honours 1973 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1973 to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1973.
The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January.
Edward Ernest Hollamby was an English architect, town planner, and architectural conservationist. Known for designing a number of modernist housing estates in London, he had also achieved notability for his work in restoring Red House, the Arts and Crafts building in Bexleyheath, Southeast London, which was designed by William Morris and Philip Webb in the year 1859.
Thomas Alwyn Lloyd OBE, known as T. Alwyn Lloyd, was a Welsh architect and town planner. He was one of the founders of the Town Planning Institute in 1914 and its President in 1933. He was also a founding member of the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales in 1928 and served as its chairman from 1947 to 1959. Meic Stephens described Lloyd's work as follows:
Lloyd's small-scale buildings reflected his deep feeling for place, in both historical and environmental terms, as in the Garden Villages for which he was responsible in various parts of Wales.
The 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours were awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June. The Queen's Birthday Honours were announced on 1 June 2015 in New Zealand, on 8 June in Australia, and on 12 June in the United Kingdom, in Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia and Belize.
John Eric Miers Macgregor FRIBA FSA OBE, was a conservation architect with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. He was appointed an OBE in 1964 and the Esher Award in 1974 for his contribution to the repair of historic buildings.
Jane Fawcett MBE was a British codebreaker, singer, and heritage preservationist. She recently became known for her role in decoding a message, which led to the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. From 1963 to 1976 she served as the secretary of the Victorian Society. She wrote and edited works including The Future of the Past; Seven Victorian Architects; The Village in History and Save the City.
The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and were announced on 30 December 2016.
The 1951 King's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were appointments made by the King on the advice of the New Zealand government to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 7 June 1951.
The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June. The Queen's Birthday Honours for the United Kingdom were announced on 9 June; the honours for New Zealand were announced on 4 June and for Australia on 11 June.
The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June. The Queen's Birthday Honours for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms were announced on 8 June, except the honours for New Zealand that were announced on 3 June and for Australia on 10 June.
David Lawson Jacques PhD is a British garden historian. He specializes in landscape conservation and the history of 17th and 18th century gardens. He was prominent in the campaign to have cultural landscapes admitted to the World Heritage List in 1992, and served on the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel 2020-1 and 2022-3.