Julian Prideaux, who has died aged 82 of cancer, was my friend and colleague at the National Trust for more than 40 years. Wise, knowledgable and with a twinkle in his eye, he saw the National Trust through a series of triumphs and crises, the Mr Fixit every organisation needs. He rose from the youngest land agent in the Trust in 1969 (the so-called “baby” agent), through to regional director and chief agent to become deputy director general and secretary until his retirement in 2002.
Perhaps his greatest triumph was to lead the restoration of Uppark, a beautiful 17th-century house on the Hampshire Downs, after its upper floors were gutted by a ferocious fire in 1989. Once the decision was taken to restore the house, Julian sprang to the rescue and – though it was fraught with difficultly – oversaw the most ambitious reconstruction project ever attempted, involving the painstaking reassembly and rebuilding of precious interiors, furniture and decoration. The project earned huge acclaim domestically and worldwide.
He was regional director for the Thames and Chilterns region when a furious row broke out over the trust’s decision to lease land under Bradenham to the Ministry of Defence for a nuclear defence bunker. His calm leadership helped quell the storm, though it led to a fractious extraordinary general meeting in a vast marquee in Hyde Park.
He was chief agent when, following the commissioning of a report by Professor Patrick Bateson into the welfare of hunted deer, the National Trust’s council decided to ban stag hunting. Julian was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the ban, which he did with his customary fairness though in highly contested circumstances. He had to check his car daily for bombs.
And he was deputy director general when the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak required the closure of vast swathes of countryside and most of the Trust’s properties. Again, he managed the complex process of closure and the equally complex reopening when it was deemed safe to do so.
Julian, the second of four sons, was born in Holton, Somerset, where his parents, Sir Humphrey Prideaux, a soldier, and his wife, Cynthia (nee Birch Reynardson), were temporarily based, during preparations for D-day. He grew up in Oxfordshire, attending Eton before the Royal Agricultural College, where he qualified as a land agent in 1966. He worked first for Burd & Evans in Shropshire, where he met and married Jilly Roney Dougal; then as agent for Colonel Cubitt, based in Lee on Solent in Hampshire; before joining the National Trust’s staff.
Julian will be remembered for his incredible passion for the Trust, his meticulous turnout and organisational skills, his impressive memory for people, places and names, and the love and kindness he always showed to staff, donor families and members.
He is survived by Jilly and their two sons, Adam and Nigel.
