Frank Hoar - Background

Background

Hoar was born in Burma, then a part of the Indian Empire, to Harold Hoar and Frances (née) Harry, where his father was stationed with the Army Educational Corps. The Hoars were an old Hampshire family, settled in Catherington from the reign of Henry VIII and Lords of the Manor of Lovedean, near Catherington, in the 17th century. Harold Hoar's great grandfather, John Jeans, was the Professor of Nautical Astronomy at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. The Harry family descend in the male line from the Owens of Lllullo and, ultimately, from Hywel Dda and Rhodri Mawr, 10th century Kings of Wales. Through that family, Hoar was a kinsman of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States.

On the family's return to England, they settled in Devon, where Hoar was educated at Plymouth College. At the age of 15, he won a scholarship to the Bartlett School of Building at University College London (UCL), with which he was to be associated for the best part of his life. Studying under Sir Albert Richardson, PRA, Hoar qualified as an ARIBA in 1931, and was awarded a diploma in Town Planning, having been awarded the Owen Jones Student Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) whilst an undergraduate. Hoar's interest in architectural history developed during his student years, where he was awarded the Roland Jones prize for the history of Medieval architecture in his second year.