Robert Hunter (National Trust) to propagate the formation of a "National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty". In July 1894 the trust was formally inaugurated under the presidency of the Duke of Westminster. At the inaugural meeting Rawnsley declared, to cheering, that the aim was to establish "a great National Gallery of natural pictures". Hunter was appointed chairman of the executive committee. In the same year he was knighted for his services to conservation. Hunter had warned the inaugural meeting that the trust would be on a truly secure footing only if it obtained the permanent status granted by either a
Hardwicke Rawnsley Rawnsley was elected as a member of the new Cumberland County Council and became chairman of its Highways Committee. He stood out against the construction of roads over lakeland passes, secured controls over mining pollution, and promoted adequate signposting of footpaths. Other targets for his reforming zeal included the brewing industry and in later years the cinema, where he was strongly against the depiction of sex and violence. While he opposed what he saw as excessive numbers of public houses, he was not a prohibitionist. In the last month of his life, after returning from a tour of French vineyards,