Jessica Mary Albery
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Jessica Albery | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 June 1908 |
| Died | 16 January 1990 (aged 81) |
| Alma mater | Architectural Association, London, |
| Occupations | Architect, urban planner |
| Children | 2 (adopted) |
Jessica Albery FRIBA (11 June 1908 – 16 January 1990) was a British architect and town planner, and one of the first generation of professional women architects in the UK in the early 20th century.[1]
Jessica Mary Albery was born in London on 11 June 1908, the only daughter and the eldest of the three children of Irving Albery, a wealthy stockbroker who was later Conservative MP for Gravesend (1924–45) and was knighted in 1936 for political and public services, and of his wife, Gertrude ("Jill") Mary, née Jones (1884–1967). Both parents came from theatrical families. Her paternal grandparents were actress and theatrical manager Mary Moore (later Lady Wyndham)[2] and actor and playwright James Albery. Her maternal grandfather was playwright Henry Arthur Jones, a creative artistic background which inspired her.[1]
Albery was the god-daughter of Eleanor ("Nellie") Farjeon, the author, poet, biographer, historian, satirist, journalist, broadcaster and award-winner. Farjeon lived much of her life among the literary and theatrical circles of London, and she had a wide range of friends with great literary talent. Albery remained close to her godmother for the whole of her life.
Albery's mother encouraged her to study architecture, however neither of her parents ever expected or encouraged her to become a 'serious professional'.[3]
Albery was not educated at an ordinary school as was typical of middle-class girls of the time, but rather she was educated by a private governess, and subsequently at a small private finishing school in Paris for a brief time. Her two younger male siblings were sent to school in the ordinary way.
She trained at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, in London, for five years in the late 1920s alongside fellow students and life-long close friends Judith Ledeboer, Justin Blanco White, and Mary Beaumont Crowley (later Medd), all of whom had received a proper education, unlike Albery. At the AA they all developed a commitment to housing reform and to social concerns which impacted upon their later careers.[1]