Jill Spencer Allibone (26 April 1932 – 3 February 1998) was an English

architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...

and the founder of the

Mausolea and Monuments Trust The Mausolea and Monuments Trust is a charity for the "protection and preservation of mausolea and funerary monuments situated in Great Britain and Ireland." The trust was founded in 1997 by the architectural historian Jill Allibone (1932–1998). ...

. She wrote studies of

Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on Middle Ages, medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations, such as those of the ...

and

George Devey George Devey (1820, London – 1886, Hastings, Sussex) was an English architect notable for his work on country houses and their estates, especially those belonging to the Rothschild family. The second son of Frederick and Ann Devey, he was bo ...

, and was a justice of the peace for over 20 years.

Early life

Allibone was born Jill Spencer Rigden in

Abadan Abadan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Abadan County), Central District of Abadan County, Khuzestan province, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The city is in the southwest of the coun ...

,"Victorian values" by Andrew Saint in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 10 February 1998, p. 14. Iran, on 26 April 1932, where her father,

Horace Walter Rigden Horace Walter Rigden, OBE, (2 April 1898 – 1986) was an English chemist and oil industry executive who managed the Anglo-Persian oil refinery at Abadan in Iran during the 1930s and the Second World War, receiving the Order of the British Empire ...

, managed the Anglo-Persian oil refinery. She spent her youth in Iran apart from a period during the Second World War where she was evacuated to South Africa. She was educated at

Godolphin School Godolphin School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school for girls in Salisbury, England, which was founded in 1726 and opened in 1784. The school educates girls between the ages of three an ...

, Salisbury, and then St Martin's School of Art. In 1954 she joined the Courtauld InstituteObituary: Jill Allibone.
Hermione Hobhouse, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 22 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2015. where she was a contemporary of

Brian Sewell Brian Alfred Christopher Bushell Sewell (; 15 July 1931 – 19 September 2015) was an English art critic. He wrote for the ''Evening Standard'' and had an acerbic view of conceptual art and the Turner Prize. ''The Guardian'' described him as ...

. At that time she met her future husband, the solicitor David Allibone, whom she married in 1957 before she had finished her degree. They lived in Kent. She took her finals while pregnant with her first child. According to Sewell, she only married David Allibone after first enquiring about Sewell's intentions towards her, apparently being unaware that he was gay.

Career

After the birth of three daughters, Allibone returned to the Courtauld to complete a PhD on the Gothic architect Anthony Salvin, which was published in 1987. Her supervisor was

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

, the first chairman of the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK charity and amenity society that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. As a statutory consultee, by l ...

, with which Allibone became closely involved. Her study of

, known for his Kentish works, was published in 1991. She catalogued his drawings in the British Architectural Library. In 1996 she contributed essays to ''The Inns of Court'' (Black Dog Publishing, 2001). While visiting her grandmother's grave at

All Saints Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania * All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane, Queensland *All ...

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

, Kent, Allibone chanced upon a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

Wynne Ellis Wynne Ellis (also Wynn Ellis) (1790–1875) was a wealthy British haberdasher, politician and art collector. Biography Ellis, son of Thomas Ellis, by Elizabeth Ordway of Barkway, Hertfordshire, was born at Oundle, Northamptonshire, in July 1790 ...

, a wealthy

haberdasher __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing st ...

and donor to the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

. Seeing that the tomb was decaying, Allibone tracked down the owners and applied to have the site listed with

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. It is now a

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

monument. This kindled Allibone's interest in funery monuments and in 1997, she founded the

, which is able to take over monuments in order to maintain and protect them. Allibone was a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

Outside architecture

Allibone was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the South Westminster Bench in 1966, in which capacity she served for over 20 years.

Death

Allibone died in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

, Kent, on 3 February 1998. She is buried with her husband David Allibone (died 2007) at St George's church, Benenden, Kent.

Selected publications

*''Anthony Salvin, Pioneer of Gothic Revival Architecture 1799–1881'',

University of Missouri Press The University of Missouri Press is a university press operated by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and London, England; it was founded in 1958 primarily through the efforts of English professor William Peden. Many publications ...

, Columbia, 1987.Reviewed Work: ''Anthony Salvin: Pioneer of Gothic Revival Architecture'' by Jill Allibone

James Stevens Curl James Stevens Curl (born 26 March 1937)Contemporary Authors, vols. 37–40, ed. Ann Every, Gale/Cengage Learning, 1979, p. 110 is an architectural historian, architect, and author with an extensive range of publications to his name. Early life a ...

, '' Journal of Design History'', Vol. 2, No. 1 (1989), pp. 56–57. *''George Devey: Architect 1820–1886'',

Lutterworth Press The Lutterworth Press, one of the oldest independent British publishing houses, has traded since the late eighteenth century, initially as the Religious Tract Society (RTS).

, 1991. *''Wall Paintings of Garton-on-the-Wolds'', Pevsner Memorial Trust, 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allibone, Jill English architectural historians 1932 births 1998 deaths English justices of the peace People educated at Godolphin School People from Abadan, Iran Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London English women historians