Roy Gazzard Papers

Correspondence and papers of Major Roy Gazzard reflecting his work on UK New Towns, for Barclays Bank, in Uganda and Oman, and his career as a Urban Geography lecturer at Durham University. There are also many photographs and negatives from his work abroad and in the U.K., including his time in the Army during the Second World War.

Major Roy Gazzard was born in 1923 and educated at the Kingston-upon-Thames School of Art, School of Architecture. In 1942 he enlisted in the Royal Engineers, later transferring to the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Royal Education Corps. In 1951, Gazzard was appointed Assistant Government Town Planner in the Survey Lands and Mines Department in Uganda. Whilst there, Gazzard was involved in establishing a Provincial Planning Office at Jinja and advised planners for new townships in the area. He returned to the UK in 1954 and was appointed Architectural Representative in the Midlands of Barclays Bank Ltd.; his responsibilities included advising the local directors on development proposals and acquisition of new premises. In 1960 Gazzard was appointed Chief Architect/Planner for the Peterlee Development Corporation, and in 1962 he transferred to the Killingworth New Town project. In June 1965 he was re-designated Director of Development for the Killingworth Development Group, Northumberland County Council. Gazzard joined Durham University as a Lecturer in Geography in 1970 and continued until 1976 when he took leave to work as Under Secretary in the Department of the Environment. For the next three years, Gazzard worked with the Community Land Act Advisory Team surveying sites for investigation by the Department of the Environment. He returned to Durham in 1979 to take up the position of Director of the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. During this time he worked as a consultant on redevelopment projects in Oman. He retired from the University in 1987 and died in Durham on 7 December 2016.

Arranged in 10 sections: 

• A. Personal Papers
• B. Uganda
• C. Barclays Bank
• D. Killingworth Township
• E. Durham University
• F. Department of the Environment
• G. Municipality of Sur, Oman
• H. Jibroo/Muscat, Oman
• I. Miscellaneous
• J. Audio/Visual material

Open for consultation.

Presented by Gazzard's daughter Sarah Harris in 2013.

Catalogue

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Sub-Librarian, Special Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.