Building Cornwall January 16, 2019 – Posted in: The History of Cornwall

No two people have had a greater impact on the built environment of Cornwall than John Passmore Edwards and Silvanus Trevail. Edwards (1823-1911), the Cornish philanthropist, and Trevail (1851-1903), the architect, collaborated on public works – in particular, libraries – in Truro, Bodmin, Launceston, St Ives and other towns, often with the grudging support of local councillors who thought them a magnet for loungers.

Trevail, of course, also pursued his own projects – hotels, schools, chapels, institutes, galleries and domestic buildings – in a frenzy of activity that lasted three decades until he shot himself in the ladies’ toilet on a train at Bodmin Parkway. If you went to school in Cornwall, you probably went to a one designed by Silvanus Trevail.

I was reminded of Passmore Edwards as I was on my way to the dry cleaners at Bounds Green as I passed by Passmore Edwards House, a sheltered housing development on the site of the now demolished  cottage hospital he bequeathed to the growing north London suburb of Wood Green. London benefited too from Edwards’ philanthropy. Edwards made a fortune, lost a fortune, made another fortune, and gave away 90% of his personal wealth to help the disadvantaged, ‘funding the ladder so that the poor might climb’. 

You can support the Blackwater Literary Institute donated by Passmore Edwards to his birthplace of Blackwater https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/blackwatervillage/

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