[These notes seem to be a mix of me, and bits I've copied from elsewhere. If I make any of this public, check which is which, and if necessary rewrite.]
Robert Hunter (1844-1913)
Co-founder of the National Trust, local champion of the preservation of open spaces", and the lawyer who helped to draft the Wandsworth Common Act 1871
In 2020 English Heritage unveiled a blue plaque at 5 Louvaine Road to Sir Robert Hunter, perhaps the least well-known of the three founders (with Octavia Hill and Hardwicke Rawnsley) of the" National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty" . But his name is also linked to countless fights to save open spaces. Among London's "green lungs" that he helped to secure are Wandsworth, Tooting, Wimbledon and Putney Commons, Hampstead Heath, and Epping Forest.
Hunter, a solicitor with an acute social conscience, moved to Battersea with his new wife Emily Browning in 1869, just as the battle to save Wandsworth Common was intensifying. Their new home was a stone's throw from fellow-campaigner John Buckmaster, and inevitably he too became deeply involved in the local Commons Preservation Society. (You will see his name "Mr Hunter, Louvaine Rd" listed on contemporary posters.)
But this address is also associated with personal tragedy, for it was here in 1872 that Hunter’s wife Emily and son died within days of each other. Heartbroken, he moved away shortly afterwards.
Hunter began his journey to prominence with a devastating legal attack on a feudal anachronism the alleged right of a lord of a manor such as Earl Spencer to "own" a Common to enclose it for his own purposes and to sell it for personal gain.
The central issue, he argued, lies in the word "common". Such land cannot be treated as property. It is not an object to be bought and sold at the lord's will, but a resource that must be for ever enjoyed collectively by the local residents who rely on it.
The National Trust Act of 1907, for which Hunter is chiefly responsible, describes the charity's purpose as being to promote "the permanent preservation for the benefit of the nation of lands and buildings of beauty or historic interest ... for ever, for everyone" language that clearly mirrors the Wandsworth Common Act of 35 years earlier.
[353] Lords of the manor, inheritors of a now irrelevant military tradition tradition [ of militart ?] that started with the Anglo-Saxons invaders and developed by the Norman conquerors are an an, he argued, they have traditional obligations to all with [rights] in effect they are custodians not owners of land held "common".
As he shows, a "Common" is not a place but a description of how the land is [used] some areas are farmed "in common", others to be used "in common" for pasturing animals, for firewood, for gravel and so on... The latter were usually called wastes and this is what Wandsworth Common was
His life's work was to inspire and advise local campaigns to save open spaces such commons and forests, and the paths that crossed them, to save land fro being industrial and [housing] development, to acquire and protect vulnerable properties that and preserve them for the
Leading figure in the Commons Preservation Society
Among his most notable achievements was to protect Hampstead Heath, Berkhamstead, Plumstead, Wimbledon, Tooting and Wandsworth commons, and later Stonehnge and great areas of the Lake Distcitbut the largest was Epping Forest (with the support of the City of London).
Robert Hunter came to live in Wandsworth at time of just prior to his marriage to Emily Browning. It was a desperately ...bad time because Emily dies in childbirth on 2 January 1872.
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English Heritage Senior Historian, Howard Spencer, said:
'Sir Robert Hunter was a champion for the preservation of open spaces even before the National Trust was founded.
It is fitting to commemorate him here today, just a short walk away from Wandsworth Common, which he helped to save over 150 years ago.
'He believed that it was essential that urban dwellers should have access to open spaces for the sake of their health and well-being.
Epping Forest and Wimbledon Common were two other green lungs of London that he helped to preserve for our enjoyment today.'
Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust, said:
‘Robert Hunter, one of the three founders of the National Trust, was a modest man who never sought limelight for himself. But with his acute legal knowledge and experience with the Commons Preservation Society, he ensured that the Trust’s purpose was written in a way which, remarkably, still serves us so well today, allowing the Trust to look after nature, beauty and history.
'He even came up with the name “National Trust”. I am delighted that he has been honoured with this plaque.’ Though
[However] this address is also associated with personal tragedy, for it was here that Hunter’s wife and son died within days of each other, it was a place where he found happiness, albeit short-lived, in marriage to his beloved Emily.
essay he wrote in a competition for a prize offered by local MP Sir Henry Peek for...
His historical analysis of the [anachronism of feudal] and his detailed recommendations swept away much of the mystification around the idea that lords of the manor such as Earl Spencer "own" the Commons, and hence can enclose them for their own purposes and sell them at will for personal gain.
The clue, he argued, was in the word "common" not property in the usual sense of something that can be bought and sold, but a local resource that must be for ever enjoyed collectively.
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