Hugh D C Fitzroy

Hugh Denis Charles Fitzroy, The Duke of Grafton, KG

Elected a Fellow on 1 March 1956, the 11th Duke of Grafton, who died on 7 April 2011, aged ninety-two, was one of that select group whose Fellowship exceeds half a century, reflecting a life of dedication to the cause of preserving the nation’s heritage. He was, said the Daily Telegraph, ‘an eloquent champion of conservation who lectured all over the world and sat on a breathtaking array of architectural and amenity bodies. He was chairman and later president of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and also chaired at various times the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, the Architectural Heritage Fund, the Church of England’s Cathedral Advisory Commission and Sir John Soane’s Museum. He was a member of the Historic Buildings Council from its foundation in 1953, and until he succeeded his father in 1970 he was the National Trust’s administrator for Sussex and Kent, and later East Anglia. He was also vice-chairman of the National Portrait Gallery.

In addition to the organisations he chaired, he sat on the executive bodies of — among others — the Historic Buildings Advisory Committee, English Heritage’s Churches and Cathedrals Advisory Committee, the Council of the National Trust and the Royal Fine Art Commission. He was patron of the Historic Houses Association and a trustee of the Tradescant Trust, the London Museum and the Buildings at Risk Trust. He was also closely involved in the activities of the Georgian Group, the Victorian Society, Heritage in Danger, the Ancient Monuments Society and the Civic Trust.’

Among the many campaigns for which he will be remembered, he spoke out against the proposal to demolish Euston Arch (built on land that his family had once owned), he launched a scheme to help preserve the historic centre of Salisbury and he led a successful appeal to pay for the restoration of the Theatre Royal at Bury St Edmunds, the UK’s only surviving Regency theatre. He was also instrumental in the preservation of Woburn Square, one of the last Georgian squares left intact in Bloomsbury. More recently he will be remembered for leading the chorus of protest provoked by the decision of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford Cathedral to sell the thirteenth-century Mappa Mundi, describing as ‘deplorable’ their failure to consult the Church’s Cathedral Advisory Commission before doing so.