‘Nobler imaginings and mightier struggles’ : Octavia Hill, social activism and the remaking of British society

Abstract

I am often asked for my view on how ‘the spirit of the National Trust’ might be best summarised. I long ago learned that there is no single ‘spirit’ and that almost all our millions of members and visitors would have their own view of what the trust represents and where we should focus our efforts. As a historian by background, my response to the question is usually to reach to the past, to look at what our founders hoped we would achieve, or to trace the history of the issues we have championed. In 2012 the National Trust was pleased to mark the centenary of the death of one of our founders, Octavia Hill. Our extensive celebrations, enjoyed by no one more than my predecessor Fiona Reynolds, for whom Octavia Hill was a particular source of inspiration, culminated in a memorial’s being installed in Westminster Abbey – the national pantheon.