Andrew Rutter - Obituary for city council's first conservation officer

Born March 8 1933, died July 25 2026 aged 93

Andrew was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset into a Quaker family. The youngest of five, Andrew followed them to the Quaker school in Sidcot in 1943. His art teacher, John Newick, realised Andrew's artistic talent and interest in architecture and encouraged him to draw church towers in Somerset and produce a varied portfolio of architectural exercises. It was this portfolio that gained him a place at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. The bomb-damaged East End and deadliness of large suburbs of London led to a final thesis on what makes a town worth living in, demonstrated by illustrated proposals for the Isle of Dogs.

After attending a tribunal in Bristol in 1956, as a Conscientious Objector, he was allowed to do work for IVSP (International Voluntary Service for Peace) first in Germany to work on housebuilding and then in Ghana with a fellow architect as IVSP's first volunteers in Africa.

Andrew met his wife Margery Haygarth 18 months later back in England at a work camp hostel. They remained a devoted couple for over 62 years. They shared a love of music and painting. Andrew was wonderfully creative, producing numerous paper sculptures, bold colourful paintings and cards often as gifts for birthdays or leaving presents.

The United Nations recruited him for a pioneer developmental project in 1961 which meant relocating his family back to Ghana and the Technical University in Kumasi, to train Planning Assistants. This enabled him to put educational ideas into practice including the University’s first field projects, the findings of which were laid out in a book 'Kwamo - a study in rural development'.

Andrew returned to Edinburgh in 1966 to study civic design and then in 1969 moved to a job in Forward Planning with Hampshire County Council. Following reorganisation in 1974, Andrew was appointed as Winchester’s first Conservation Officer in the City Council, caring for historic buildings and negotiating better new buildings - a job he held for 24 years. His great gift was being able to visualise and draw the effect of planning applications to inform councillors prior to making decisions. His team had to face the major challenge of routing the M3 through a small chalk valley, helping to reduce most of the destructive environmental impacts of the original plan apart from the notorious 'Twyford Down Cutting’.

His book, 'Winchester, Heart of a City’ was the culmination of his detailed Conservation Area appraisal which, with the patient help and support of a team of collaborators and the City of Winchester Trust was published in 2009 and quickly sold out.

In retirement, Andrew produced many more detailed drawings of townscapes and building details for a second book, 'Winchester, Tradition and Change’. The book never materialised but the content has been turned into a valuable research archive along with over 400 original drawings now stored at the Hampshire Record Office.

A life long Quaker, Andrew was involved in establishing Winchester’s first permanent Quaker Meeting house. He was a well known character at vigils and peace demonstrations with hand crafted displays and distinctive posters many of which graced the Meeting noticeboard over a 40 year period. He campaigned tirelessly for social justice and, as a long time supporter of the local Quaker initiative Friends of the Family, helped many vulnerable people. Andrew was a great letter writer, with many letters to MPs, councillors and the local paper in addition to extensive personal correspondence.

Margery died in 2022. Andrew is survived by his sons Paul and Mark, and grand children, Toby, Hannah and Theo.