Casson, Margaret MacDonald 1913 - 1999

Margaret MacDonald Casson [also known as Lady Margaret Casson] was born Margaret MacDonald Troup in Pretoria, South Africa on 26 September 1913.  She studied architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London, where she met Hugh [later Sir Hugh] Maxwell Casson (1910-1999) whom she married on 9 November 1938.   

After leaving the Bartlett, she worked in the office of Kit Nicholson (1904-1948) in London in 1937-38. She then returned to South Africa where she was briefly in practice but returned to England in late 1939 just before the outbreak of World War Two.

From 1946 to 1951 she was employed as a designer by Cockade Ltd. She also designed glassware for W.E. Chance & Co. Ltd. in the 1950s and ceramics for G.L. Ashworth & Bros Ltd. in the 1960s.  From 1952 to 1974 she taught interior design at the Royal College of Art in London.

She had an interest in photography for many years and following her retirement focused her attention on this medium, exploring the possibilities offered by Photograms and photo-etchings.  Her work in this field was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Fine Arts Society in London, the Royal Photographic Society in Bath, the Min Gallery in Tokyo, and the Bertha Urdang Gallery in New York.  An exhibition of her photographs, 'The Perceptive Eye' was also held at Dimbola Lodge Museum in Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, 4 March-17 April 2005.  

She was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1938 and was a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers (FSIAD). In 1985 she was  made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy. She served on various public committees including the Design Council and the Arts Council.   She died in London on 12 November 1999.