| Source | The information in the above entry has been used with permission kindly granted by Gavin Stamp, author of Silent Cities (London: Royal Institute of British Architects, 1977).
Other sources include: CWGC Archive, WG 568, 'Capt. Truelove'; CWGC Archive, WG 150, 'Architects General File'. |
| Biographical Note | John Reginald Truelove was a British architect and an Assistant Architect for the Imperial War Graves Commission.
He was born in 1886. He was articled to Hall and Fenton of Sheffield and worked in private practice for a period of four years prior to the First World War. During the First World War, he served in the 24th London Regiment in France, Belgium and Italy, attaining the rank of Captain.
Following the end of his military career, Truelove applied to the Commission in April 1919 with a reference from Sir Edwin Lutyens. In August 1919, he was appointed as an Assistant Architect. As Assistant Architect, he was responsible for the design of 29 cemeteries in France and Belgium, including Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, and Noyelles-sur-Mer Chinese Cemetery. In most cases, the Principal Architects (Baker, Lutyens, Blomfield and Holden) merely gave their approval to the designs, sometimes suggesting modifications to them. Truelove is also credited with the winning designs for the Memorials to the Missings at Le Touret and Vis-En-Artois, which he had submitted as part of a competition. These memorials were completed by the Commission in 1930.
Outside of the Commission, Truelove won a place in the first premiated designs for the Quasr-el-Aini Hospital in Cairo. Truelove resigned from the Commission in March 1924 and continued working in private practice, later designing municipal buildings in Stoke Newington in 1937. However, despite resigning from the Commission, Truelove submitted a request and a proposed design for Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery in April 1924. His proposal was unfortunately unsuccessful; the cemetery and shelter buildings were instead designed by former Canadian Army officer Frank Higginson.
Truelove later worked for the War Department during the Second World War on Anti-Aircraft H.Q's in 1940. He died on 6 January 1942 and is buried in Easby Churchyard, Richmond, Yorkshire. |