Hurd, Robert

About the artist

Name

Hurd, Robert

Biography

Robert Philip Andrew Hurd was born on 29 July 1905 and educated at Marlborough and the LCC Central School of Arts, before going up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He came to Scotland in 1930 or 31 to complete his studies at Edinburgh College of Art, where he worked for two of the staff there, including Frank Mears. He intended to write about architecture, and was the author of many publications, and in 1932 entered into a partnership with Norman Neil, who had been a colleague in Mears' office. At that time he was living in George Square.
At the outbreak of World War II, Hurd was deemed unfit to serve, having had polio in earlier life and was attached to the Royal Engineers where he was responsible for the removal of gates and railings for the war effort in Edinburgh. After the war, the practice of Neil and Hurd existed until 1950 when Neil left and in 1952 Hurd was commissioned to reconstruct large sections of the Canongate area as local authority housing. In 1953 the practice was renamed Hurd and Partners when his chief assistant, Ian McKerrow Begg was taken into partnership.
Robert Hurd never married and died suddenly in 1963 while on holiday in Zurich. His body is buried in Canongate Churchyard.

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