Arnhem hero and respected architect dies
Published at 15:25, Thursday, 28 February 2008
A DECORATED war hero who went on to build an international reputation as an architect has died.
Harry Faulkner-Brown, who earned the Military Cross, an OBE and a knighthood from Iceland, was 87.
He lived in Acomb with his wife of 50 years, Maxine.
Joint founder of Newcastle-based Faulkner-Brown, Hendy, Watkinson, Stonor Architects, the largest architects’ practice in the North-East, his ingenuity earned him international recognition.
He made his name with his design for the National Library of Canada in Ottawa, commissioned while he and Maxine were living in Canada during the 1950s.
The Newcastle architects’ practice was established in 1962 following Mr Faulkner-Brown’s return to Britain and specialised in sports buildings and libraries.
He designed Newcastle University's Robinson Library, and was awarded a Bronze Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects for his design for the circular Jesmond Library.
Mr Faulkner-Brown was knighted by Iceland, earning him the title of Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon, after he had acted as consultant to its national and university library for 25 years.
And he was on the panel of judges for one of the most prestigious architectural projects of the last century, the rebuilding of the ancient library of Alexandria.
Straying from his usual remit, he also came up with the overall concept for the Tyne and Wear Metro stations.
However, it was on the battlefield that Mr Faulkner-Brown first won glory.
He was awarded the Military Cross for his courage after being parachuted into war-torn Arnhem in 1944.
An army sapper, he was just 23 and one of the 10,000 British troops who tried to capture the fabled “Bridge Too Far”.
Young Capt. Faulkner-Brown’s job was to find a way to ferry hundreds of Polish parachutists across the River Rhine.
He told the Courant during an interview in 2004: “All I had was six inflatables – the sort of thing children have at the seaside. Two quickly punctured but I got 54 men across and didn’t lose any.”
He also led a small party which destroyed a self-propelled gun.
Mr Faulkner-Brown still had the citation from his commanding officer describing the courage that earned him the Military Cross.
It said that “regardless of enemy fire” he went from trench to trench to boost his men.
One of the designs he was most proud of in later life was the memorial to his brothers-in-arms who fell at Arnhem.
Located in the cemetery at Oosterbeek – a suburb of Arnhem – it incorporated seats for mourners and a plaque thanking the “people of this neighbourhood for their loving care of the graves of our comrades.”
In 2003 and 2004, he returned to the Dutch town as the most senior British veteran left to lead the annual commemoration ceremonies.
Two years ago, he published his memoirs, entitled A Sapper at Arnhem, ostensibly so that his daughters and six grandchildren would have a first-hand account of the war.
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk
