Selby James Clewer (6 April 1917 – 12 April 2001) was an English

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 ...

. Born in Morton,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, to James Clewer (1889–1968) and Minnie Thacker (1883–1918), with his father a

policeman A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

, he spent his childhood in many different areas in the Midlands. His mother died in 1918. While studying at the

Birmingham School of Architecture Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 and gai ...

he won the Pugin Prize.

Work abroad

In 1940, as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to obje ...

, he joined the

Friends' Ambulance Unit The Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU) was a volunteer ambulance service, founded by individual members of the British Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in line with their Peace Testimony. The FAU operated from 1914–1919, 1939–1946 and ...

and volunteered for the

China Convoy China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones ...

. They set out in May 1941 and arrived in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military governme ...

in July. Later he moved to China and was responsible for the design of what became the Convoy HQ in Kutsing, (

Chuxiong City Chuxiong City (; Chuxiong Yi Script: , IPA：) is a county-level city and the capital of the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in Central Yunnan Province, China. Geography Chuxiong is about west of Yunnan's capital of Kunming on highway GZ ...

) Yunnan. On 8 April 1943 he arrived in Liverpool on the RMS Mauritania. He married (Hilda) Dorothy Street at

St Petrock's Church, Parracombe St Petrock's Church in Parracombe, Devon, England was built in the 13th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Cons ...

in the same year. He then went to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

, where he was responsible for designing the Princess Tsahai Memorial Hospital, (renamed the Armed Forces General Hospital after the revolution in 1974, and now Torhayloch Hospital). After a year, his wife Dorothy joined him and they stayed there for nine years. He became Chief Architect to the Abyssinian Ministry of Education.

Work in England

Having joined the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, he went to work for the

Bournville Village Trust Bournville Village Trust is an organisation that was created to maintain and improve the suburb of Bournville, located in Birmingham. However, during the 20th century it expanded its geographical coverage to include developments in Shenley Gree ...

and later became Chief Architect, a post he held for 21 years. In 1966 he designed the chapel at

St Francis of Assisi's Church, Bournville St Francis of Assisi's Church, Bournville is a parish church in the Church of England in Bournville, Birmingham. History Land had been set aside for a church and church hall by Bournville Village Trust in 1905. The church hall (now part of the ...

. He was responsible for the design of Quinton Methodist Church in 1968,

St. David's Church, Shenley Green St David's Church, Shenley Green is a parish church of the Church of England located in Shenley Green, Birmingham. History Until 1970 services were held in the church hall which was opened in 1962. In February 1969, twelve Birmingham Scouts haule ...

which opened in 1970 and the Friends Meeting House in Redditch, 1974, and the adjoining housing complex, built for the Redditch Friends Housing Trust. Other buildings include: *Shard End Boys’ Club, Brownfield Road, Shard End, Birmingham 1960 *Northfield Boys’ Club, Vineyard Road, Northfield, Birmingham 1960 (now demolished) On retirement, Selby was appointed Administrator of

Hanbury Hall Hanbury Hall is a large 18th-century stately home standing in parkland at Hanbury, Worcestershire. The main range has two storeys and is built of red brick in the Queen Anne style. It is a Grade I listed building, and the associated Orangery ...

and was able to raise the profile of this historic house. Later he and his with moved to Ice House Cottage, in the grounds of the Hall, (where many remember buying garden produce, ice cream and honey sold in aid of charities) and finally to Studley. He died suddenly on 12 April 2001.http://www.centralenglandquakers.org.uk/page.asp?pageid=83&parentid=30

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clewer, Selby 1917 births 2001 deaths Architects from Shropshire Alumni of Birmingham City University 20th-century English architects British conscientious objectors English Quakers People associated with the Friends' Ambulance Unit