Budleigh Salterton Architect celebrated by Fairlynch Museum

During the Great War he served with the territorial army in the East Surrey Regiment in India and Mesopotamia. He reached the rank of Colonel and was awarded the Territorial Decoration. Here he’s seen in 1914, in his uniform as a Second Lieutenant. (Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

Budleigh Salterton’s most renowned architect, William Hatchard-Smith, is being celebrated in a new publication from Fairlynch Museum.

He was responsible for designing and building over 50 homes in Budleigh Salterton between the First and Second World Wars. He was also responsible for the Croquet Club and the Public Hall. He died, aged 100, in 1987.

Trevor Waddington, who wrote the new booklet and is also the museum chairman, said, “He had a profound effect on the look of our town. Not only were his designs fine examples of the late arts and crafts period but they were built well with great attention to detail."

Trevor added, “For many years he had an architects practice on Fore St in Budleigh Salterton.”

William Hornby Hatchard-Smith was born in Epsom in 1887, the son of architect John Hatchard-Smith and his wife Francis Mary. He was educated at Charterhouse school, trained in his father‘s practice and became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1914 and a Fellow in 1923.
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During the First World War he served in India and Mesopotamia reaching the rank of colonel. In 2014 a blue plaque was unveiled on the walls of the public hall to mark the contribution he made to the town.

The booklet is 52 pages, lists many of the homes he built and looks in detail at 14 of them. Many of the original water-coloured architect’s drawings still exist and some feature in the publication.

It can be bought for £5 from the Museum during opening hours Tuesday to Sunday, 2 to 4.30 or in the online shop (see this website's menu under 'ABOUT: SHOP) or: https://www.devonmuseums.net/Fairlynch-Museum-Budleigh-Salterton/E-Commerce/

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Watch Hill on Cricketfield Lane is considered to be Hatchard-Smith‘s finest house. It featured in the 1987 Agatha Christie ITV Miss Marple drama “Sleeping Murder”.

In 2014 a blue plaque was unveiled on the walls of the Public Hall to mark the contribution he made to the town.