Sidney Toy (1875–1967) was a British architect and architectural historian.

Life

Toy was born on 15 February 1875 in

Redruth Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...

in Cornwall. Toy 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 ...

in 1924. While travelling in the Middle East, Toy met teacher and militant

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

Violet Mary Doudney and they married in Leicester in 1929. Doudney had been imprisoned in 1912 for smashing the window of the Home Secretary. In 2018, the Toy's eldest son, John. recalled "My father was a typical Victorian man and wasn't in favour of women having the vote. He asked iolet Mary Doudneynot to talk about er imprisonmentand she didn't tell us until the day the Second World War broke out." In 1939, Toy published ''Castles'' through Heinemann; it was one of the major works on castles in the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote the entry on castles for the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'', published in 1959. As an architectural historian, Toy specialised in military architecture and his work continues to inform research into the 21st century.

Selected publications

*''Castles'' (1939) *''Castles of Great Britain'' (1953) *''A History of Fortification from 3000 BC to 1700 AD'' (1955) *''Strongholds of India'' (1958) *''Fortified Cities of India'' (1965)

References

Bibliography

* * Castellologists People from Redruth 20th-century British architects British architectural historians 1875 births 1967 deaths {{UK-bio-stub