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Obituaries
David
Mawson OBE
Award-winning
Norfolk architect
also startedWorld
Federationof Friends
ofMuseums
David Mawson (1937-1940) died aged
89 on November 21st 2013.
Award-winningNorfolk architect, David
Mawson, who has died aged 89, played a vital
role in the development of the University of
East Anglia.
A co-founder of Feilden &Mawson, which
won a series of international awards, he was
sadly not able to take part in this summer’s
jubilee celebrations of the university.
It was fitting that in July 1995, this
pillar of Norfolk life and partner in charge
of the university village project was
recognised by the UEA and received an
honorary MA degree.
His contribution to raising the profile and
standing of museums was a key interest for
more than 40 years.
After becoming secretary to the Friends
of NorwichMuseums, he became founder
and chairman of the British Association of
Friends of Museums in 1973.
Then, two years later, he became the first
president of theWorld Federation of Friends
of Museums.
Within eight years, the number aliated
to the association had grown from less than
20 tomore than 150, involving 100,000
members. It took himaround the world
addressing conferences but he was happiest
at home, fighting the corner for museums in
his adopted county of Norfolk.
Born inNorthwood, London, onMay 30,
1924, he was educated at Merchant Taylors’
School. Then when his parents moved
toNew Zealand atWellington College,
Auckland University, before he returned
to study at the School of Art, Kingston
upon Thames. HavingmarriedMargaret
in 1951, he joined Bernard Feilden and the
partnership was formally launched in 1957.
His work ranged fromdesigning buildings
for the embryonic UEA to saving the historic
High Court of Justice inHong Kong, and
also working on buildings on London’s Hyde
Park estate for the Church Commissioners.
In 1977, he was appointed architect to
Norwich Cathedral and also worked at St
Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. A highlight of
his 33-year career, latterly as senior partner,
was beingmade anOBE in the 1990 new
year’s honours.
The investiture at BuckinghamPalace by
the Queen took place just amonth before
he formally retired although he continued
as a consultant. He had also been elected
president of the Norfolk Association of
Architects between 1979 and 1981.
His love of the county led to his
involvement with the Norfolk Society and he
particularly enjoyed helping with the judging
of the EDP’s best-kept village competition,
latterly the Pride of Norfolk, with his devoted
wife, for many years. He had succeeded Lady
Harrod as chairman of the thenNorfolk
branch of the Council for the Protection of
Rural England in April 1971.
The next year, a new name emerged
on the conservation scene – the Norfolk
Society – following amerger with the Norfolk
Association of Amenity Societies. In that
year too, the re-elected chairman reported
that the Norfolk premiere of the film, The
Go-Between in the presence of the Queen
Mother had raised £2,250 for the branch. He
became vice-president and was president for
four years until 2000.
Mr Mawson, of Gonville Hall,
Wymondham, had been appointed a
JP for the Norwich Bench in April 1972
and served for 22 years. In 1986, he was
appointed a deputy lieutenant of Norfolk.
He was a former president of the
Norfolk Club in 1986, which hosted
a special luncheon tomark the 90th
anniversary celebrations of the Friends of
NorwichMuseum in 2011. The re-opening
of the Bridewell Museumwas another
cause close to his heart.
A trustee of the Theatre Royal
throughout the 1990s, he served as trustee
of NorfolkHistoric Buildings Trust from
1975 until becoming director in 1990.
His love of gardening also led to
another major project, the publication
earlier this month of the 460-page
book, Norfolk Gardens and Designed
Landscapes – incidentally the county’s
first such history.
Sadly, he was unable to attend the
ocial launch inNorwich but one of his
last appearances was at the silver-jubilee
celebrations of the Norfolk Gardens Trust
at OxneadHall, near Buxton, in July.
He was founder chairman for three
years from 1988 and then deputy
president of the trust, which contributed
significantly to publication and research
of this important book.
As chairman of the trust’s first
committee, he told more than half the
membership at the Oxnead party that
the first formal meeting was held at the
Centre for East Anglian Studies in the
summer of 1987. It had included Tom
Williamson, of the UEA, who was one of
the book’s three authors.
He was heavily involved in causes
aroundWymondham including trustee
of the town’s Bridewell Preservation Trust
and a governor ofWymondhamCollege.
He leaves a widow, Margaret,
daughter Diana and son Iain, and five
grandchildren.
Michael Pollitt
This article was published in
the EasternDaily Press on 26th
November 2013
Summer
2014
