Geoffrey Henry Lupton (2 September 1882 – 30 December 1949) was a British architect and furniture designer who is best known for his contribution to the Arts and Crafts movement, working with Ernest Gimson and Sidney Barnsley.
[2] Lupton left Hathorn Davey in 1905 to train as an Arts and Crafts architect, cabinet maker and builder with Ernest Gimson, who was later described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers".
Early in 1915 he joined up as a private serving in the Army Service Corps (ASC), "Ally Sloper's Cavalry", 3rd Heavy Repair Depot in A.S.C.
[8] In 1926, Lupton bought some hundred acres of veldt near Elgin, on the Palmiet River, 50 miles from Cape Town where he built a farmhouse, thatched it with local reed and set to work to make the most unpromising soil productive.
Clearing, breaking up, ploughing in lupin, irrigating by means of wooden pipes from a great pump, put in by himself in the river below, he succeeded in growing almonds, peaches, and to some extent apples, which do not thrive in South Africa, and kept cows and poultry.
[2] In 1946–7, influenced by L. T. C. Rolt's book Narrow Boat, he joined the Inland Waterways Association and bought a narrowboat which he converted for cruising, working on it on the open canalside near Norwood while he was living in Chiswick.
With his 9-year-old son as crew, a 429-mile tour of English canals occupied June and July 1947, including stops to repair the boat's diesel engine and to continue the conversion work.
In 1948 he was again drawn to emigrate to Africa (this time to Southern Rhodesia), where he was engrossed in building up yet another farm when he met his death, while dealing with a bull, on 30 December 1949.