Concluding that protests and legislation were not enough to protect the environment, he joined Robert Hunter and Octavia Hill in 1893 to found the National Trust to own land on the public's behalf.

[2] He was the second son and fourth of the ten children of the Rev Robert Drummond Burrell Rawnsley (1817–1882) and his wife, Catherine Ann, née Franklin (1818–1892).

[2] According to Hardwicke Rawnsley's biographer Vivian Griffiths, "Observing the wildlife of the Fens, the construction of the Holbeach-to-Spilsby railway and watching the navvies building embankments were to be formative influences".

[11] The historian George Bott writes: In 1869, Thring introduced Rawnsley to the Lake District, staying in Grasmere village, where William Wordsworth had lived.

[13] In 1870, Rawnsley went up to Balliol College, Oxford, initially reading classics but switching after two years to natural sciences, with the intention of becoming a medical practitioner.

Rawnsley was one of a group of undergraduate volunteers – others were Oscar Wilde and Arnold Toynbee – who undertook manual labour under Ruskin's direction to improve the road and drainage between Oxford and the village of Hinksey.

[18] He was appointed lay-chaplain to the Newport Market Refuge, a hostel for the destitute, in the parish of St Mary's, Soho, an insalubrious part of London known for prostitution and poverty.

[21] The eldest daughter of his host and hostess was Edith Fletcher (1846–1916); she and Rawnsley were mutually attracted, with shared interests in art, literature and nature.

[25] The ecclesiastical authorities felt that he went too far in his efforts to attract young locals, not confining himself to religious services but organising a temperance club, regular football matches and weekend country walks.

[26] His enthusiasms did not endear him to the conservative hierarchy of the Bristol church, but when he left his post in 1877 he was presented with a testimonial to his work by the mayor and other leading citizens.

[38] He recorded that "a lady was engaged to come down from South Kensington to give a course of lessons in the three villages,[n 5] and our humble home industry in the lake district was set on foot.

Griffiths writes that although by no means solely responsible for the successful outcome of the campaign, Rawnsley "became a local and national hero almost overnight, and a new awareness of landscape preservation came to the fore".

[50] During the time the Lake District Defence Society was being formed, the Bishop of Carlisle, Harvey Goodwin, offered Rawnsley the post of vicar of St Kentigern's Church, Crosthwaite and rural dean of Keswick.

[55] He revived the traditional symbols of St Kentigern – a robin, a tree, a bell and a salmon with a ring in its mouth – incorporating them in the mosaic floor of the church.

[54] At the same time he continued to campaign on a large number of national issues, not only supporting conservation but opposing such practices as vivisection, rabbit coursing, the cruel trapping of animals, and what he called "murderous millinery" – the killing of birds to use their feathers in hats.

[68] In 1887 Rawnsley revived the moribund Keswick and District Footpath Preservation Society, with the principal aim of stopping landowners blocking public rights of way across their land.

[70] The owner of Latrigg, a fell overlooking Keswick, attempted to block access along two paths and challenged the objectors to trespass, with a view to bringing a test case in court.

[74] There were two main British parties at the time: the Conservatives, seen as defending the interests of the landed aristocracy,[75] and the Liberals, generally more sympathetic to ideas about environmental protection and public access to the countryside.

[76] When English local government was reorganised in the late 1880s Rawnsley stood as an independent Liberal for the newly formed Cumberland County Council in January 1889.

[78] He stood out against the construction of roads over lakeland passes, secured controls over mining pollution, and promoted adequate signposting of footpaths.

[80] Ruskin's emphasis on practical skills was a lifelong influence on Rawnsley, and as a county councillor he promoted a mobile dairy hygiene unit.

[79][82] His concern for the health of the community prompted him to campaign against over-processed white bread, encourage fell running and above all strive to ensure that footpaths were kept open to allow walking.

[87] In 1884 Hunter had proposed "the formation of a corporate company" to hold properties "with a view to the protection of the public interest in the open spaces of the country".

He and his wife made several walking and painting tours in the Alps, visited the Holy Land and went to Egypt when their son was working there in Sir Flinders Petrie's archaeological team.

[19] He encouraged young people not to attend "lurid crime films at kinemas", and turn instead to wholesome organisations such as the YMCA, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.

[95] In 1898 Rawnsley was offered the bishopric of Madagascar, but declined it, feeling himself committed to his conservation work in the Lake District and, by then, in many other parts of the British countryside.

A local controversy in 1911 made national news, when Rawnsley and Hunter successfully opposed the county council's proposal to demolish the medieval Portinscale bridge across the River Derwent near St Kentigern's and replace it with a modern structure.

[96] This argument was widely ridiculed and the council backed down, outmanoeuvred by Rawnsley, who, together with the owner of the adjacent property, offered to underwrite the cost of strengthening the old bridge.

[99] When the First World War began in 1914 Rawnsley's views were straightforward: "The German envy and hate, which has been nursed against us secretly for the last 30 years, is now seen in all its open madness.

[103] Rawnsley felt unable to carry on without Edith's help, and the week after Easter 1917 he resigned from St Kentigern's after 34 years and retired to Allan Bank.