The Early Days of Vic Soc: Mark Girouard talks to Jeremy Musson Recording

Mark Girouard, in conversation with Jeremy Musson, talks about his experience of the earliest days of the Victorian Society.

From Hardwick Hall to No.1 Poultry, Mark Girouard’s writing has run the gamut of architectural history and criticism. Perhaps the most significant group of books (and Country Life articles) in his long bibliography are those on Victorian architecture – Victorian Pubs; Sweetness and Light: the “Queen Anne” Movement 1860-1900; Alfred Waterhouse and the Natural History Museum; The Return to Camelot: Chivalry and the English Gentleman; and most famously, the two editions of The Victorian Country House. Many of his other books, such as Cities and People, encompass, in their broad sweep, nineteenth-century architecture.

It is perhaps no surprise that, as a twenty-six year old, Mark Girouard was one of the founding members of the Victorian Society. Now in his ninety-first year, he recalls, in conversation with Jeremy Musson, the editor of The Victorian, a lifetime of writing and campaigning and will talk about the earliest days of the Victorian Society.

The event was held in All Saints Church, Notting Hill (William White 1852-61).