John Henry Brookes OBE (31 January 1891 – 29 September 1975) was an English craftsman, artist and educator associated with the predecessor institutions of

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

, which is named in his honour.

Biography

Brookes was born in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

, England. His father was head of the Boot and Shoe Department of Leicester College of Technology. Brookes trained in

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same but differed in that t ...

ing at the

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries. A wool trading centre in the Middle Ages, Chipp ...

Guild of Handicrafts. He was an accomplished artist but became both an inspirational teacher and accomplished administrator. In 1922, he was appointed as a part-time teacher of sculpture in the Oxford City School of Arts and Crafts. In 1934, the technical and art schools were merged as the Schools of Technology Art and Commerce. John Henry Brookes was the first principal. There were ten full-time staff and 1,284 students. By 1946, the schools were in 19 sites around the city and John Henry Brookes had of necessity become an accomplished cyclist. With the spread of the schools around the town there was a great desire to move them all onto one site. The Morrells brewing family offered 33 acres at the top of

Headington Hill Headington Hill is a hill in the east of Oxford, England, in the suburb of Headington. The Headington Road goes up the hill leading out of the city. There are good views of the spires of Oxford from the hill, especially from the top of South Par ...

and plans were drawn up, but the City Council turned them down. There was a great public protest and a citizens meeting was held in a packed Town Hall. Eventually the plans were approved. The foundation stone was laid by Lord Nuffield. Brookes encouraged printing as a discipline in the college and also had many of his own drawings published. For many years his pen and ink drawings were a regular feature of the ''

Oxford Times ''The Oxford Times'' is a weekly newspaper, published each Thursday in Oxford, England. The paper is published from a large production facility at Osney Mead, west Oxford, and is owned by Newsquest, the UK subsidiary of US-based Gannett Compan ...

''. He was very much involved in the Oxford community and was on many committees especially those concerned with young people. He was a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

for many years and when he retired from the college he became one of the directors of the

Oxford Playhouse The Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road (Oxford), W ...

. Built on his solid foundations, the Schools of Technology Art and Commerce evolved into Oxford College of Technology,

Oxford Polytechnic A polytechnic is an educational institution that primarily focuses on vocational education, applied sciences, and career pathways. They are sometimes referred to as ''institutes of technology'', ''vocational institutes'', or ''universities of app ...

and, finally, into

References

External links

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"John Henry Brookes (1891–1976)"
''Headington history: People'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Brookes, John Oxford Brookes University 1891 births 1975 deaths Artists from Northampton Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire

Biography

Further reading

References

External links