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
Armitt Library who lived and died in Ambleside. The library of over 11,000 books covers the local and natural history of the Ambleside area and the wider Lake District. It is an important resource for information on notable people connected with the area, including Mary Louisa Armitt, William Wordsworth, Harriet Martineau, John Ruskin, Frederic Yates, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and Kurt Schwitters. Armitt Library Armitt Museum is an independent museum and library, founded in Ambleside in Cumbria by Mary Louisa Armitt in 1909. It is a registered charity under English law. The library was founded by a bequest of Mary Louisa Armitt in