| Source | ‘Edward Brantwood Maufe in the British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920’, Accessed via Ancestry UK website on 20/04/2017.; CWGC Archive, T 365, Sir E.B. Maufe, 04/02/1944-16/12/1955; CWGC Archive, ADD 10/1/33 – CORONATION LIST - 1953; CWGC Archive, ADD 10/1/40 – NEW YEARS LIST – 1954; CWGC Archive, CM 3/1/164 – COMMISSION MEETING NO. 496, 20/03/1969 |
| Biographical Note | Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe was a British architect and the Commission's Principal Architect for the United Kingdom after the Second World War. Maufe was then commissioned as (Honorary) Chief Architect and Artistic Adviser, succeeding Sir Frederic Kenyon.
He was born Edward Brantwood Muff (later Maufe) on 12 December 1882 in Ikley, Yorkshire. During his early life, Maufe was inspired by local architecture such as Norman Shaw's church and the Red House, Bexley Heath (built by Philip Webb for William Morris). Maufe became a pupil of the architect William Pite at the age of 16. Maufe impressed examiners with his entrance exam for St. John's College, Oxford and later designed additions to the college and the hall enlargement. He was also elected a Fellow of St. John's.
In 1910, he married Miss Prudence Stutchbury, herself an artist and designer.
During the First World War, Maufe served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He then enlisted with the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1917, when he was commissioned as a staff lieutenant in April of that year. He became an expert on camouflage, particularly for field batteries, and was appointed by the Gunner General of the Salonika Front for this role.
After the war, Maufe progressed his civil career, designing his first church, St. Saviours in Acton, which was for worship by the deaf and dumb. He was also responsible for the reconstruction of the Middle Temple and Gray’s Inn, and the new buildings for Oxford and Cambridge Colleges. Maufe's major project, among many other churches and memorials, was his winning entry for the competition for the design of Guildford Cathedral.
In January 1944, Maufe was appointed as the Commission’s Principal Architect for the United Kingdom and on 31 March 1949 he was appointed their honorary Chief Architect and also succeeded the late Sir Frederic Kenyon as the Commission’s Artistic Adviser. He retired from the Commission in March 1969 after twenty years of service.
Maufe was responsible for examining and recommending to the Commission the designs of all cemeteries and memorials of the Second World War, numbering around 65 major cemeteries and 19 Memorials. Some of most well-known contributions include the 1939-1945 Extensions to the Naval Memorials at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth as well as the extnesion to the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill. Maufe designed the Runnymede Memorial to the Air Forces of the Commonwealth, the Memorial at Golders Green Crematorium, the Canadian Pavilion in Brookwood Cemetery, the RAF Record Buildings in Brookwood, Cambridge and Harrogate, and also the Indian Army Cremation Memorials.
His further responsibilities involved coordinating the work of the Commission’s four Principal Architects for the Second World War, namely Sir Hubert Worthington, Philip Hepworth, Louis de Soissons and Colin St. Clair Oakes. He also assessed the competitions for the design of the Memorials to the Missing of the Royal Naval Air Service at Lee-on-Solent, the Royal Naval Patrol Service at Lowestoft, and the Merchant Seaman serving with Royal Navy at Liverpool.
Maufe was also a Royal Academician, a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission and the Faculty of Architecture in Rome, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architect. He was awarded in the Royal Gold Medal in 1944. He was knighted in 1953
Sir Edward Maufe died on 12 December 1974, aged 92. |