Gilbert Mackenzie Trench
{{Short description|Scottish architect (1885–1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Gilbert Mackenzie Trench (1885–1979) was a Scottish architect, and the surveyor to the Metropolitan Police between 1920 and 1945.{{Cite web|title=Dictionary of Scottish Architects - DSA Architect Biography Report (February 27, 2021, 10:52 pm)|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=205360|access-date=2021-02-27|website=www.scottisharchitects.org.uk}} He was the sixth such architect to hold the post since its inception in 1842. He took over the role from John Dixon Butler, who died in post in 1920.
He is credited as the designer of the police telephone box, which has since become a pop culture icon owing to its immortalisation as the space-time machine of Doctor Who.{{cite news |title=Tardis-style police box at Bradgate Park is STILL used by police today|url=https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/tardis-style-police-box-bradgate-5593320 |access-date=14 October 2021 |work=Leicester Mercury}}
Other buildings he is known to have designed include the police station and associated accommodation in Tooting in south London.{{Cite web |title=Former Tooting Police Station will be turned into flats in £8mil deal |url=https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/19184324.former-tooting-police-station-will-turned-flats-8-25mil-deal/ |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=Wandsworth Times |language=en}} Trench also designed Charles Rowan House on Margery Street, Clerkenwell, which was built in the 1920s as married quarters for Metropolitan policemen.{{Cite web |title=History of Charles Rowan House |url=https://charlesrowanhousetra.typepad.com/tra/2012/07/history-of-charles-rowan-house.html |access-date=2022-05-20 |website=Charles Rowan House TRA}}
Mackenzie Trench retired in 1945 and was succeeded in the role by John Innes Elliott in 1947.
Early life
Mackenzie Trench was born on 4 April 1885 in East Dulwich. He was one of five children and the eldest of two sons to the Scottish civil engineer, Gilbert Kennedy Campbell Trench (1855–1937), and his wife Clementina {{nee}} Flett (1857–1938). Mackenzie Trench's younger brother, Alexander, later became an engineer, associated with the office of Babcock & Wilcox."The Late Mr G K Trench", The Scotsman, 28 October 1937, p. 8.
Police Box
In 1928, Trench was commissioned by the Metropolitan Police to design a new Police Box, able to not only take calls from public notifying the police force of a crime, but to also allow a "Bobby on the Beat" to sit inside and make himself a cup of tea whilst he waited for a call-out. It began its installation in 1929, with demonstrations at the 1936 Radio Show.{{Cite web|title=Police Box|url=https://www.britishtelephones.com/police/boxes.pdf}} The boxes saw much use over the next 40 years, doubling as air raid sirens in WW2. By 1969, however, walkie-talkies and quick response vehicles such as the Ford Zephyr had made it redundant, and the home secretary James Callaghan had nearly all of them demolished. As of present, only 11 remain of the over 1000 originally constructed. It was immortalised in the British TV show Doctor Who after it became the disguise for the titular character's space-time machine, The TARDIS.
He retired from the role of surveyor and chief architect to the Metropolitan Police in 1945; he was succeeded in the role by John Innes Elliott in 1947.{{cn|date=April 2024}}
Personal life
Mackenzie Trench married Dorothy Olare Buswell Booth on 31 August 1912 at the Church of Emmanuel, East Dulwich."Marriage and Banns", The Scotsman, 5 September 1912, p. 10. Trench fathered two children, Jean Doris Trench (1913–2008) and Kenneth Mackenzie Trench (1923 –1923). He died in 1979 in Wanganui, New Zealand.
References
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Category:People from East Dulwich