Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Charles Edward Bainbridge Brett, KBE,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(30 October 1928 - 19 December 2005), was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

solicitor, journalist, author and founding member, and first chairman, of the

Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Ulster Architectural Heritage Society was founded "to promote appreciation and enjoyment of good architecture of all periods and encourage the conservation, restoration and re-use of Ulster's built heritage to regenerate and sustain our communitie ...

(UAHS). He was known to many simply as Charlie Brett.

Early life and education

Brett was born in

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

, County Down, into a long line of solicitors, the family firm being ''L'Estrange and Brett'', based in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. He was a partner in this firm from 1954 until 1994. He was educated at Aysgarth School,

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and New College, Oxford, where he was President of the Poetry Society and was a friend of Dylan Thomas.

Career

Between 1949 and 1950, he worked in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

as a journalist with the ''Continental Daily Mail'', where he is said to have mixed in anarchist and

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

ite circles. In 1956, The 8th Earl of Antrim invited Brett to join the Northern Ireland Committee of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. On finding there were no books written to prepare himself for this, Brett resolved to write the necessary volumes.Obituary: Sir Charles Brett. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-charles-brett-520623 In 1967, he became the first chairman of the

(UAHS), founded with, amongst others, Lady Dunleath. Brett served as chairman for ten years and then as President from 1979 until his death. With the

he put his legal skill to use in order to establish a public footpath along the cliffs of the North Coast of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

. He also sat on the board of the

Irish Architectural Archive The Irish Architectural Archive was established in 1976 by Dr Edward McParland and Nicholas Robinson as the National Trust Archive. Its objective is to collect and preserve material of every kind relating to the architecture of Ireland, and ma ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Later life

In 1971, he was appointed to the board of the newly created

Northern Ireland Housing Executive The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is the public housing authority for Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest social housing landlord, and the enforcing authority for those parts of housing orders that involve houses with multiple ...

. He served as Chairman for five years from 1979, during which time 50,000 dwellings were built. He was asked to compile a list of historic buildings in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

in 1975. In 1986, Brett became the first chairman of the

International Fund for Ireland The International Fund for Ireland is an independent international organisation established in 1986 by the British and Irish governments with the objectives of promoting "economic and social advance and to encourage contact, dialogue and reconcilia ...

, established to encourage investment in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Brett was also involved in Northern Irish politics, being chairman of the

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. William Walker stoo ...

for a time In 1981 he was appointed a

. This was followed by a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

, as a KBE, in 1990. Brett was married and had three sons, and seven grandchildren. His church memorial is located alongside those of his family in the Comber

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

Parish Church of St. Mary, in

Comber Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Ca ...

, North County Down.

Published works

His volumes, published under the name C.E.B. Brett, included books on the local architecture of the buildings of

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

and North County Down. What is perhaps his best known work, ''Buildings of Belfast, 1700-1914'', was originally published by

Weidenfeld and Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld ...

in London in 1967. In 1974, the

National Trust of Guernsey The National Trust of Guernsey is an association that preserves and enhances historic buildings and the heritage of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Founded in 1960, the association became The National Trust of Guernsey in 1967. In 1968, the Trust, as ...

invited Brett to carry out a similar architectural survey of

St Peter Port St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. P ...

in Guernsey to mark European Architectural Heritage Year in 1975, resulting in the publication of ''Buildings in the Town and Parish of St Peter Port''. The successful result was repeated for the island of Alderney in 1976, and

Saint Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

in 1977. He wrote one satirical volume under the pen name "Albert Rechts", which was an anagram of his name. He also wrote a volume titled ''Long Shadows Cast Before '', incorporating family history, political commentary and autobiography.

References

External links

The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society

Bibliography

Obituary in "The Times"Obituary in "The Independent"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brett, Charles 1928 births 2005 deaths Solicitors from Northern Ireland People educated at Rugby School British architectural historians Irish architectural historians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Holywood, County Down Alumni of New College, Oxford Northern Ireland Labour Party politicians People educated at Aysgarth School