National Trust Act

Historical Context Note

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Domains

Legislation (Bills, Acts, Laws ...)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1907-08-21

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

The move to establish a ‘National Trust’ began in 1884 when the Victorian housing reformer Octavia Hill wanted to preserve the former house of the diarist John Evelyn, Sayes Court in Deptford, so that its gardens could be a public open space for the benefit of the east London poor. Octavia Hill turned for assistance to Robert Hunter, who as Chief Solicitor to the Post Office had prevented private capitalists from exploiting the mails for private gain and as Solicitor for the Commons Preservation Society had become prominent in the campaign to prevent the enclosure of the remnants of common land (see our article on Enclosures). In this body, Hunter, a gentle Christian, had advocated such direct action as the removal of fences where they prevented lawful rights of way, arguing that the…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

494 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "National Trust Act". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 June 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1733, accessed 24 April 2024.]

Save this article