Hardwicke Rawnsley

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Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (born on September 29, 1851 at Shiplake near Henley-on-Thames, died in 1920 at Grasmere, Cumbria, England) was a clergyman, poet, writer of hymns and one of the co-founders of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty.

Rawnsley studied at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was an able athlete and oarsman.

In December 1877 Rawnsley moved from East Anglia, where his father was a vicar, to become vicar of Wray Church near Ambleside, Cumbria, in the Lake District. In January 1878, he married Edith, a local girl.

He became involved in local campaigns to protect the countryside, and formed the Lake District Defence Society (later to become The Friends of the Lake District); other members included Tennyson, Browning, Ruskin and the Duke of Westminster.

In 1882, a young Beatrix Potter visited nearby Wray Castle with her parents. They entertained many eminent guests, including Rawnsley. His views on preserving the natural beauty of Lake District had a lasting effect on Potter, who was already taken with the area. He was the first published author she met, and he took a great interest in her drawings, and later encouraged her to publish her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

In 1883, Rawnsley left Wray for St Kentigern's Church, Crosthwaite, just outside Keswick. The next year he and his wife began organising classes in metalwork and wood carving, which resulted in the establishment of a School of Industrial Art in Keswick, which remained in operation until 1986. He was appointed as honorary canon of Carlisle Cathedral in 1891.

Rawnsley was a strong advocate for the preservation of the Lake District from rampant development, and as such fought for the creation of a National Trust which could buy and preserve places of natural beauty and historic interest for the nation. The Trust became a reality in 1895, with the assistance of Octavia Hill, a social reformer, and Robert Hunter, a Civil Service solicitor. Until his death, Rawnsley worked as Honorary Secretary to the Trust. He was responsible for the campaign to raise money to buy Brandlehow Wood, the National Trust's first purchase.

He wrote a total of 30,000 sonnets in his lifetime, a number of books on the Lake District and a biography of Ruskin.

After 34 years at Crosthwaite he retired to Grasmere, where, in 1915, he had bought Allan Bank, the house in which Wordsworth had lived for three years. He died there in May, 1920, and is buried at Crosthwaite. He bequeathed Allan Bank to the National Trust.

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