Ethel Haythornthwaite

Ethel Mary Bassett Haythornthwaite (née Ward) (18 January 1894 – 11 April 1986) was an English environmental campaigner, activist and poet. She was a pioneer of countryside protection as well as town and country planning both locally and nationally. She founded the Sheffield Association for the Protection of Rural Scenery, also known as the Sheffield Association for the Protection of Local Countryside in 1924, which became the local branch of CPRE in 1927, and worked to protect the countryside of the Peak District from development. She forefronted the appeal to save the 747-acre Longshaw Estate from development, and helped acquire land around Sheffield that became its green belt. She was appointed to the UK government’s National Parks Committee, and helped to make the successful case for the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, which led to the founding of the Peak District National Park in 1951. She also helped make green belts part of government policy in 1955. She was awarded an MBE in the 1947 New Years Honours List for her services to the countryside. In 1963, she was awarded an honorary master's degree by Sheffield University.