William Holford, Baron Holford

William Graham Holford, Baron Holford (22 March 1907 – 17 October 1975) was a British architect and town planner.

Biography

Holford was educated at Diocesan College, Cape Town and returned to Johannesburg. From 1925–30 he studied architecture at the University of Liverpool, where he won the British Prix de Rome in Architecture to the British School at Rome in 1930. While in Rome he met British mural painter Marjorie Brooks, who had independently won the British Prix de Rome for Painting, and married her in 1933.

He was a lecturer at the University of Liverpool from 1933 and succeeded Patrick Abercrombie as Professor of Civic Design there in 1937. In 1948 he again succeeded Abercrombie as Professor of Town Planning at University College, London; a post he held until he retired in 1970.

Holford was knighted in 1953 and on 29 January 1965 he was made a life peer as Baron Holford, of Kemp Town in the County of Sussex by the Wilson Government, the first town planner to be made a Lord. He served as president of the Royal Town Planning Institute 1953–54, and of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1960–62.

Holford

Coordinates: 51°09′50″N 3°12′31″W / 51.1638°N 3.2085°W / 51.1638; -3.2085

Holford is a village and civil parish in West Somerset within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and about 10 miles (16 km) west of Bridgwater and 6 miles (10 km) east of Williton. The village has a population of 392. The village is on the Quantock Greenway and Coleridge Way footpaths. The parish includes the village of Dodington.

The River Holford which runs through the village flows to the sea at Kilve.

History

The parish of Holford was part of the Whitley Hundred. Holford Glen was once the site of a Huguenot silk factory.

The tannery was built by James Hayman, in the 16th century and is now a hotel. The waterwheel which powered the tannery is still present.

Alfoxton House (now Alfoxton Park Hotel) was built as an 18th-century country house and occupied by poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, between July 1797 and June 1798, during the time of their friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Holford (disambiguation)

Holford is a village in Somerset, England.

Holford may also refer to:

See also

Holford (surname)

Holford is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: