Lawrence Weaver
Sir Lawrence Weaver was a British architectural writer and civil servant.Career
Lawrence Walter William Weaver was born and raised in Bristol. He began his career there as a sales representative at an architectural practice, selling fixtures and fittings. He then became the London representative of Lockerbie and Wilkinson, a firm of ironfounders who made cast-iron ware for the building trade, where he developed an interest in leadwork. In 1905 his articles on leadwork topics began to be published in leading journals such as Country Life, Architectural Review, The Burlington Magazine, and The Art Workers' Quarterly. Over time his articles' subject matter widened to cover all aspects of architecture.
In 1910 Weaver was appointed Architectural Editor of Country Life, writing on contemporary architecture as an 'advocate of the new' and the Arts and Crafts Movement, and subsequently becoming a director. He wrote a large number of articles on country houses and gardens, especially those by Edwin Lutyens, providing a strong counterpoint to his predecessor, Avray Tipping. In 1913 the magazine was described as "the keeper of the architectural conscience of the nation".
From 1916 he became a civil servant during the First World War. In 1919, when he was the Commercial Secretary of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, he founded the National Institute of Agricultural Botany. Weaver's career was subsequently supported by the patronage of Lord Arthur Lee, his Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, owner of the Chequers estate and later co-founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art.
In 1923 he was involved with the creation of the Ashtead Pottery. In 1924-25 he organised the British Empire Exhibition, for which he received his knighthood.
Lawrence's wife, Kathleen, died in 1927 of pneumonia, and when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1930 at the age of 53, their two sons, Purcell and Tobias were, in effect, adopted by the Sir Stafford Cripps family. Their son, Tobias Rushton Weaver, Sir Toby from 1973, was a civil servant and educationist, working in the Department of Education and Science for 27 years, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Secretary, ending under Margaret Thatcher.Books
By Weaver:
- '. Illustrated with many b/w photos and drawings.
- ' . Illustrated with many b/w photographs and plans.
- '. Illustrated.
- '. Illustrated with b/w photos and drawings.
- '.
- ' .
- Small country houses of to-day , . Illustrated with many b/w photos and plans.
- '. Illustrated with b/w photos, and drawings by E. H. New.
- High Wycombe Furniture. Illustrated.
Co-written by Weaver:
' Gertrude Jekyll & Lawrence Weaver. Illustrated with many b/w photos and plans.The Queen's Dolls' House , A. C. Benson & Sir Lawrence Weaver.
