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JP, chairman of the Hornsey School and Hornsey Local Board. Active in the Poor Schools movement, he was an early campaigner for the education and welfare of children. He also led the campaign to save nearby Highgate Wood. This was given much space in The Times and The Standard newspapers. This led to the then owners, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, offering the wood (then called Gravel Pit Wood) to the Corporation of London as a gift in February 1885. This offer was accepted in 1886 and the wood was dedicated as "an open space for ever" on October 30 at a ceremony led by Sir John Staples, Lord Mayor of London. He similarly led the fight to save Queen's Wood.