ONE of the campaigners who helped save historic Winchester from the bulldozer has died, aged 92.

Jeffrey Smith was a founder member of the city’s preservation trust which battled to stop around 1,500 buildings being demolished by the city council in the 1950s.

His campaigning saved historic roads such as Canon Street and Colebrook Street from destruction. Around half of the buildings on the hit list were saved.

Mr Smith was mayor of Winchester in 1967. He passed away peacefully in his sleep at home on Easter Monday.

The memorial service was at the Hospital of St Cross yesterday, April 23.

Chris Webb, of Southgate Street, a fellow campaigner to save Hockley Viaduct, said: “He was the last living alderman of Winchester. He was a great lover of Winchester and he will be sadly missed.

“He was a very fine man, very principled. He was always determined not to take no for an answer. He stiffened many backs on various issues such as the viaduct.

“He was very active almost to the end, writing books when he was 90 about Winchester and his wartime service.”

Former city councillor Patrick Davies also lauded Mr Smith. He said: “Jeffrey Smith made a remarkable contribution to the heritage of Winchester. I knew him through his work as a vice-president of the City of Winchester Trust where we shared a common objective to preserve the best of Winchester for future generations.

“In national politics we probably disagreed, but it was always a privilege to talk to him during my many years as his city councillor about local issues, where we seemed to agree on most things. He will be greatly missed by all of us who care about the future of our historic city.”

Mr Smith’s son Andrew said: “He was a civic activist. He got into politics in the early 1950s because of the plans to demolish over 1,500 important buildings within the city centre.

“They saved about half; he was saddened that they weren’t able to save the Brooks area where there were fine medieval and Wren buildings.”

Mr Smith said his father ran the George Smith and Son chartered surveyors until the late 1970s before it was subsumed into the current firm of Andrew Smith and Son, the auctioneers based in Itchen Stoke.