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Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (6 June 1879 in Ashton upon Mersey
Ashton upon Mersey

Ashton upon Mersey is an area of Sale, Greater Manchester in the Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Mersey, in the northwestern part of Sale, and is situated about south of Manchester city centre....
 — 23 March 1957 in Aston Tirrold
Aston Tirrold

Aston Tirrold is a village and civil parish in the South Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, about four miles south-east of Didcot, on the north side of the Berkshire Downs....
, Didcot
Didcot

Didcot is a town in the Thames Valley, in the England county of Oxfordshire . The town is located approximately 10 miles south of the city of Oxford....
, Berkshire
Berkshire

Berkshire is a Home Counties in the South East England of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1958, and Letters patent issued confirming...
 (now in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
)) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 town planner. Educated at Uppingham School
Uppingham School

Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England.The school's current Headmaster, Richard Harman MA, is a member of the Headmasters Conference and the school is a member of the Rugby Group of independent school in the United Kingdom....
, Rutland
Rutland

Rutland is a Counties of England of mainland England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire, and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
; brother of Lascelles Abercrombie
Lascelles Abercrombie

Lascelles Abercrombie was a United Kingdom poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets". He was born in Ashton upon Mersey and educated at the University of Manchester....
, poet and literary critic.

Sir Patrick trained as an architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 before becoming the Professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 of Civic Design at the Liverpool University School of Architecture in 1915, and later Professor of Town Planning at University College London
University College London

University College London is a university institution and constituent college of the University of London based primarily in London, England, United Kingdom....
. Afterwards, he made award-winning designs for Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
 city centre and gradually asserted his dominance as an architect of international renown, which came about through the replanning of Plymouth
Plymouth

Plymouth is a City status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers River Plym to the east and River Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound....
, Hull
Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a City status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England....
, Bath, Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
 and Bournemouth
Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a large town in the Bournemouth in Dorset, England. The town has a population of 163,444 according to the United Kingdom Census 2001, making it the largest settlement in Dorset....
, among others.

Sir Patrick was closely involved in the founding of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE).






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Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (6 June 1879 in Ashton upon Mersey
Ashton upon Mersey

Ashton upon Mersey is an area of Sale, Greater Manchester in the Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Mersey, in the northwestern part of Sale, and is situated about south of Manchester city centre....
 — 23 March 1957 in Aston Tirrold
Aston Tirrold

Aston Tirrold is a village and civil parish in the South Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, about four miles south-east of Didcot, on the north side of the Berkshire Downs....
, Didcot
Didcot

Didcot is a town in the Thames Valley, in the England county of Oxfordshire . The town is located approximately 10 miles south of the city of Oxford....
, Berkshire
Berkshire

Berkshire is a Home Counties in the South East England of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1958, and Letters patent issued confirming...
 (now in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
)) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 town planner. Educated at Uppingham School
Uppingham School

Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England.The school's current Headmaster, Richard Harman MA, is a member of the Headmasters Conference and the school is a member of the Rugby Group of independent school in the United Kingdom....
, Rutland
Rutland

Rutland is a Counties of England of mainland England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire, and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
; brother of Lascelles Abercrombie
Lascelles Abercrombie

Lascelles Abercrombie was a United Kingdom poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets". He was born in Ashton upon Mersey and educated at the University of Manchester....
, poet and literary critic.

Sir Patrick trained as an architect
Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
 before becoming the Professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 of Civic Design at the Liverpool University School of Architecture in 1915, and later Professor of Town Planning at University College London
University College London

University College London is a university institution and constituent college of the University of London based primarily in London, England, United Kingdom....
. Afterwards, he made award-winning designs for Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
 city centre and gradually asserted his dominance as an architect of international renown, which came about through the replanning of Plymouth
Plymouth

Plymouth is a City status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers River Plym to the east and River Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound....
, Hull
Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a City status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England....
, Bath, Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
 and Bournemouth
Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a large town in the Bournemouth in Dorset, England. The town has a population of 163,444 according to the United Kingdom Census 2001, making it the largest settlement in Dorset....
, among others.

Sir Patrick was closely involved in the founding of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE). After its formation in December 1926, he served as its Honorary Secretary.

He is best known for the post-World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 replanning of London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. He created the County of London Plan
County of London Plan

The County of London Plan was prepared for the London County Council by J. H. Forshaw and Patrick Abercrombie in 1943.Its main purpose was to point out the main directions of development and reconstruction of London, which in the past decades had faced big changes and irregular growth....
 (1943) and the Greater London Plan
Greater London Plan

The Greater London Plan of 1944, often referred to as the Abercrombie Plan, was a plan for the development and improvement of London commissioned by the Ministry of Works in 1942 and drawn up by Patrick Abercrombie....
 (1944) which are commonly referred to as the Abercrombie Plan. The latter document was an extended and more thorough product than the 1943 publication, and for Abercrombie it was an accumulation of nearly 50 years of experience and knowledge in the field of planning and architecture.

In 1945 he published A Plan for the City & County of Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a City status in the United Kingdom and unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England....
, with the assistance of Sir Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, Order of Merit , Order of the Indian Empire, Royal Academy, Royal Institute of British Architects, LLD was a leading 20th century British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era....
. Lutyens had died the year before publication whilst much of the plan was being finalised, and the plan was ultimately rejected by the Councillors of Hull.

From the Abercrombie Plan plan came the New Towns movement which included the building of Harlow
Harlow

Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the River Stort....
 and Crawley
Crawley

Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in England and Wales in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001....
 and the largest 'out-county' estate, Harold Hill
Harold Hill

Harold Hill is a place in the London Borough of Havering, East London, England, England. It is a suburban development situated 16.6 miles east north-east of Charing Cross....
 in north-east London. Patrick Abercrombie was knighted in 1945.

During the postwar years, Sir Patrick was commissioned by the British government to redesign Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
. In 1956 he was commissioned by Haile Selassie to draw up plans for the capital of Ethiopia
Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
, Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia and the African Union and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity. It is also the largest city in Ethiopia....
.

In 1948 he became the first president of the newly formed group the International Union of Architects
International Union of Architects

The International Union of Architects is an international non-governmental organization that represents over a million architects in 113 countries....
, or the UIA (Union Internationale des Architectes). The group now annually awards the Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize, for excellence in town planning.

He died in 1957.

Buildings

  • North East Wales Institute of Higher Education
    North East Wales Institute of Higher Education

    Glyndwr University is a university in Wrexham, north-east Wales. Formerly known as the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education , it was granted full university status in 2008 after being a member of the University of Wales since 2003....
     (NEWI) in Wrexham
    Wrexham

    Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham , and the largest town in North Wales, located to the east of the region....
    .


Publications

  • Sir Patrick Abercrombie, The Preservation of Rural England, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, London, 1926. The book that lead to the foundation of the CPRE.


  • The Earl of Mayo, S. D, Adshead and Patrick Abercrombie, The Thames Valley from Cricklade to Staines: A survey of its existing state and some suggestions for its future preservation, University of London Press, London, 1929


  • Patrick Abercrombie and Sydney A. Kelly, East Suffolk Regional Scheme, University of Liverpool, Liverpool and Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1935 (prepared for the East Suffolk Joint Regional Planning Committee).


  • J. H. Forshaw and Patrick Abercrombie, County of London Plan, Macmillan & Co. 1943.


  • J. Paton Watson and Patrick Abercrombie, A Plan for Plymouth, Underhill, (Plymouth). Ltd., 1943.


  • Edwin Lutyens & Patrick Abercrombie, A Plan for the City & County of Kingston upon Hull, Brown (London & Hull), 1945.


  • Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Revised by D. Rigby Childs, "Town and Country Planning", Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 1959, Reprinted 1961 and 1967.


External links