Sir Brian Caldwell Cook Batsford (18 December 1910 – 5 March 1991) was an English painter, designer, publisher and Conservative Party politician. Born at

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in south Buckinghamshire, England, separated from the London Borough of Hillingdon at Harefield by Denham, south of Chalfont St Peter and north bordering villages of Fulmer, Hedgerley, Iver Heath and ...

in Buckinghamshire as Brian Caldwell Cook, he adopted his mother's maiden name, Batsford, in 1946. As Brian Cook, he was well known as the illustrator/designer of the dust jackets of the highly collectible Batsford books from the 1930s to the 1950s (including those in The Face of Britain series). He was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

, 1924-28 where he started to paint. In 1928 he began working for the production department of the publishing firm of B. T. Batsford, of which his uncle, Harry Batsford, was chairman. His first

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back boo ...

was for ''The Villages of England'' (1932) when he was 21 years of age. The distinctive vibrant colours of the jackets were achieved by the Jean Berté process, which used rubber plates and water-based inks. Following his uncle's death, he was chairman of Batsford, from 1952 until 1974. As Flight Lieutenant Brian Cook he failed to defend the Conservative seat of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in April 1945 which was won by Ernest Millington for the short-lived

Common Wealth Party The Common Wealth Party (CW) was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom with parliamentary representation from the middle of the Second World War until the year after its end. Thereafter it continued in being, essentially as a pre ...

. He was elected as

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Ealing South at a

on 12 June 1958. He held the seat until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election, and did not stand for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

again. He was knighted in 1974. He was tenant of

Lamb House Lamb House is a Grade II* listed 18th-century house situated in Rye, East Sussex, England, and in the ownership of the National Trust. The house is run as a writer's house museum. It has been the home of many writers, including Henry James ...

, the National Trust property in

Rye, East Sussex is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederati ...

,The National Trust; Lamb House
/ref> 1980–87.

Selected bibliography

* ''The Britain of Brian Cook''. London: Batsford, 1987.

References

External links

1910 births 1991 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 Knights Bachelor People educated at Repton School Politicians awarded knighthoods {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1910s-stub