Maurice James Waldron Craig (25 October 1919 – 11 May 2011) was an Irish

architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...

, the author of several books on the architectural heritage of Ireland and other subjects, and a conservation activist.

Life

He was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

in 1919, in a prosperous

presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

family, though he later rejected his unionist background in favour of socialism and atheism and respect for Irish culture. He attended Castle Park School in Dalkey, Dublin,

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into the ...

in England,

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, then returned to Ireland where, persuaded by poet

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel '' Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life t ...

, he completed a doctorate at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

on the works of the early 19th-century English poet

Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...

. Craig became active in Dublin architecture conservation in the 1940s. From 1952, he worked in London in the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, but left in 1970 to join

An Taisce An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland (; meaning "the store" or "the treasury"), established in June 1948, is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) active in the areas of the environment and built heritage in Ireland. It considers itself t ...

in Dublin as its full-time executive secretary. Craig was a prolific photographer of buildings. He donated his large collection to the

Irish Architectural Archive The Irish Architectural Archive was established in 1976 by Dr Edward McParland and Nicholas Robinson as the National Trust Archive. Its objective is to collect and preserve material of every kind relating to the architecture of Ireland, and ma ...

in 2001, and anthologies of his photos have been published in book form. Craig was married three times. His first marriage was to Beatrix Hurst, from which he had two children, and the second was to Jeanne Edwards. His third wife was actress and singer

Agnes Bernelle Agnes Bernelle (born Agnes Elisabeth Bernauer; 7 March 1923 – 15 February 1999) was a Berlin-born expatriate actress and singer, who lived in England for many years, then Ireland. She appeared in over 20 films and also made stage and televisio ...

, with whom he lived in

Sandymount Sandymount () is an affluent coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.

, Dublin, until her death in 1999.

Bibliography

His books include: * ''The Volunteer Earl'' (1948) – a biography of

James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont KP PC (Ire) (18 August 1728 – 4 August 1799) was an Irish statesman. Life Early life The son of James Caulfeild, 3rd Viscount Charlemont, he was born in Dublin, and succeeded his father as 4th ...

*''Dublin 1660–1860: The Shaping of a City'' (1952, 1969) – an influential work at a time of crisis for Dublin's colonial architecture *''Irish Bookbindings 1600–1800'' (1954) – a history of Irish

bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...

* ''Ireland Observed'' (1970, 1980, with Desmond FitzGerald) - a survey of Irish buildings * ''Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size'' (1976) – a survey of 17th/18th/19th-century houses of the minor gentry * ''The Architecture of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1880'' (1982) * ''The Elephant and the Polish Question'' (1990) - a varied collection of essays * ''Cats and their Poets: An Anthology'' (2002) - a collection of ancient and modern poems about cats * ''Mausolea Hibernica'' (2009) - a survey of

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

s in Ireland * ''Poems'' - a collection of poetry * ''Photographs'' (2011) - a collection of architectural photographs taken by Craig around Ireland

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Maurice 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Irish architectural historians Irish photographers 20th-century photographers Writers from Belfast Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland 20th-century Irish male writers 21st-century Irish male writers Georgian architecture in Ireland