Ewart Gladstone Culpin (3 December 1877 – 1 December 1946) was a British Labour Party politician and

town planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

who served as the Chairman of London County Council.

Biography

The son of Ben Ephraim Lamartine and Eliza Culpin, Ewart attended Alleynes Grammar School and Hitchin Grammar School. He became a journalist, based in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

, where he developed an interest in town planning and the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...

. In 1906, he was appointed as secretary of the Garden City Association, and in 1907 he founded the International Garden Cities and Town Planning Association. Enthusiastic about the positions, in his spare time he qualified as a town planner and as an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. Through the association, he promoted low-density housing schemes, whether designed as new towns or as extensions to existing ones, and in 1913 he toured the United States speaking on this topic. His approach was opposed by

Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in wh ...

, founder of the movement, and in 1918 he was replaced by

Charles Purdom Charles Benjamin Purdom (15 October 1883 – 8 July 1965) was a British author, drama critic, town planner, and economist. He was one of the pioneers and founders of the first garden cities, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City, the latter of whi ...

, who, like Howard, championed only new town developments. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Culpin was president of the Belgian Society for the Reconstruction of Belgium, and he chaired the Standing Conference on London Regional Planning from 1926 until his death. In 1930, he was the president of the

Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE) is a professional body for building engineers in the United Kingdom and overseas. History Chartered Association of Building Engineers was founded as the Incorporated Association of Architects a ...

, while in 1937/8 he was president of the Town Planning Institute. He also became a Fellow of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

. Culpin became active in the Labour Party, for which he stood unsuccessfully in

Islington North Islington North is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency in Greater London established for 1885 United Kingdom general election, the 1885 general election. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of C ...

at the

1924 United Kingdom general election The 1924 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 29 October 1924, as a result of the defeat of the Labour minority government, led by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, in the House of Commons on a motion of no confidence. It was th ...

. In 1925, he was appointed to

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

, serving until 1937, when he moved to become a councillor in Battersea North. He chaired the council from 1938 to 1939. Culpin received several honours, including becoming an officer of the Belgian Order of the Crown, a grand officer of the Romanian Order of the Crown, and a commander of the Dahomean

Order of the Black Star The Order of the Black Star (''Ordre de l'Étoile Noire'') was an order of knighthood established on 1 December 1889 at Porto-Novo by Toffa, future king of Dahomey (today the Republic of Benin). Approved and recognised by the French government o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culpin, Ewart 1877 births 1946 deaths English urban planners Labour Party (UK) councillors Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Officers of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Grand Officers of the Order of the Crown (Romania) Members of London County Council People educated at Hitchin Boys' School People from Letchworth Presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute