Harold Brakspear

Harold Brakspear
Brakspear was consulting architect to the Dean and Canons of Windsor; pictured is Windsor Castle's Round Tower

Sir Harold Brakspear KCVO (10 March 1870 – 20 November 1934[1]) was an English restoration architect and archaeologist.[2]

He restored a number of ancient and notable buildings, including[2] Bath Abbey, Windsor Castle, Brownston House in Devizes and St Cyriac's Church in Lacock.[3] He lived in Corsham, Wiltshire, close to his projects at Lacock Abbey,[4] Hazelbury Manor and Great Chalfield Manor.[2]

Brakspear was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1931 New Year Honours.[5] He was elected president of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1932[6] and re-elected the next year,[7] his term ending in July 1934.[8]

In 1908 he married Lilian Somers of Halesowen, Worcestershire; they had a son and a daughter, Oswald and Mary.[1] Oswald was an architect who designed churches and parsonage houses.[9]

  1. ^ a b "Sir Harold Brakspear dies at Bath". Bath Chronicle (9046): 26. 24 November 1934. ISSN 1356-0069. Wikidata Q106495384.
  2. ^ a b c "Brakspear, Harold". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Clark-Maxwell, W. G. (1934). "The Late Sir Harold Brakspear, K.C.V.O". Archaeological Journal. 91 (1): 405–405. doi:10.1080/00665983.1934.10853635. ISSN 0066-5983.
  4. ^ Cranage, David Herbert Somerset (1934). The Home of the Monk. CUP Archive. pp. 116–.
  5. ^ "No. 33675". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1930. p. 7.
  6. ^ "79th General Meeting, July 1932". Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. 46 (157): 89. 1932 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library Open access icon.
  7. ^ "80th General Meeting, July 1933". Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. 46 (159): 363. 1933 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library Open access icon.
  8. ^ "81st General Meeting, July 1934". Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. 47 (157): 4. 1935 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library Open access icon.
  9. ^ "Papers of Sir Harold and Oswald Brakspear". Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Retrieved 13 February 2022 – via National Archives.