[Private Materials Sir Harry Luke] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry] Ashbee, Charles Robert.

Manuscript letter Signed (MLS) by english architect and designer Charles Robert Ashbee to Sir Harry Luke, condoling him on the death of Luke’s father H.C.Luke. Ashbee reminisces: ‘I recall a charming hour I once spent with your father when on leave from Palestine – during your first year in Palestine [1921] – I brought him some message or other – the message is forgotten….the memory of the pleasant personality abides. Come to us again some day – Yours always, C.R.Ashbee – Godden Green – Near Sevenoaks).’

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Godden Green, 1930. Octavo. 1 page in original envelope. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

Charles Robert Ashbee (17 May 1863 – 23 May 1942) was an English architect and designer who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement that took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the socialism of William Morris.
In 1918 Ashbee was appointed civic adviser to the British Administration for Palestine, within the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration, later Mandatory Palestine, overseeing building works and the protection of historic sites and monuments as the chairman of the Pro-Jerusalem Society. His official title was Honorary Secretary to the Council, which was the leading board of the Society. He summoned his family to Jerusalem, where they lived until 1923.

Ashbee served as Civic Adviser to the City of Jerusalem (1919-1922) and as a professional adviser to the Town Planning Commission. Described as “the most pro-Arab and anti-Zionist” of the six British planners, Ashbee’s view of the city “was colored by a romantic sense of the vernacular”. Aiming to protect this Palestinian vernacular and the city’s secular and traditional fabric, Ashbee oversaw conservation and repair work in the city, and revived the craft industry there to repair the damaged Dome of the Rock.

Ashbee has been described as “half-Jewish, Anglican, bisexual, married, Socialist, conservationist, romantic, rebel, fop, and self-described “practical idealist”.
Ashbee was homosexual at a time when sex between men was a criminal offence. He is thought to have been a member of the Order of Chaeronea, a secret society founded in 1897 by the poet and penal reformer George Ives for the cultivation of a homosexual ethos. He certainly belonged to groups that provided support and understanding to homosexuals.
In 1898, seemingly to cover his homosexuality, Ashbee married the daughter of a wealthy London stockbroker, Janet Elizabeth Forbes (1877–1961), to whom he admitted his sexual orientation soon after she accepted his proposal. During thirteen years of rocky marriage, which included a serious affair of his wife’s, they had four children: Mary, Helen, Prudence, and Felicity. Mary Ashbee, later Ames-Lewis (1911–2004) was born at Chipping Campden; Jane Felicity Ashbee (1913–2008), Helen Christabel Ashbee, later Cristofanetti (1915–1998) and Prudence Margaret Ashbee (1917–1979) were all born at Broad Campden.
Ashbee was influenced in his life by the theories of homosexuality developed by Edward Carpenter. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Architecture · Architecture – Rare · Arts & Crafts · Arts & Crafts Movement · Autograph – 20th Century · Autograph – British History · Autograph – History Rare · Autograph – Rare · Autographed Letter – signed · British Colonial Administration · British Colonial History · British Foreign Office · British Foreign Policy · Charles Robert Ashbee · Colonial Architecture · Colonial History · Essex House Printers · Guild and School of Handicraft · Harry Luke – Private Materials · Palestine · Palestine – Content / Sir Harry Luke Collection · Palestine Content (Autographed Letter Signed – ALS) · Palestine Content / Second Posting 1928 – 1930 – Sir Harry Luke · Private Materials / Sir Harry Luke Collection · Pro-Jerusalem Society · Sir Harry Luke · Sir Harry Luke – Personal Archive of Books and Correspondence · Sir Harry Luke Collection
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 30239AB

EUR 275.000,--