BOUWENS, Dirk Mur[r]ay 1947-2021
Richard R
He was s of Derek BOUWENS 1913-83 by his c1944 m reg Q1 London to Doreen GASKIN b 1918 reg Q3 London. He m 1979 Anna Susan b 1943 d of Frederick Colin George PRESTON 1912-97 and Elizabeth Mary PARKER 1914-2003 (gt gd of 6th Earl of MACCLESFIELD 1811-96 and 2xgt gd of 2nd Marquess of WESTMINSTER 1795-1869 (f of the 1st Duke), 3xgt gd of 1st Duke of SUTHERLAND 1758-1833 etc), and had a son.
S R Eglesfield
The Bouwens family is of Dutch origin. The parents of Derek BOUWENS were Bethell Godefroy BOUWENS (9 II 1884 - 24 X 1942) and his wife (married 20 VII 1912, as her first husband), the Hon Margaret Henrietta ("Peggy") DE GREY (15 XI 1889 - 13 VII 1978), daughter of the 7th Baron Walsingham. Bethell Bouwens' sister, Hyacinth Lambart BOUWENS (31 I 1890 - 6 II 1968), was married on 29 April 1919 to his wife's brother, George DE GREY, 8th Baron Walsingham, DSO, OBE (9 V 1884 - 29 XI 1965).
Bethell Godefroy BOUWENS was the son of Lt Col Lambart Henry BOUWENS (16 II 1843 - 20 IX 1902) and his wife (married 23 XI 1882), Charlotte BETHELL (1845 - 19 I 1927). Lt Col Bouwens was himself the son of the Rev Theodore BOUWENS (c.1798/9 - 18 II 1869) and his wife (married 3 VIII 1841), Lady Julia LAMBART (20 II 1821 - 13 II 1897), sister of the 8th Earl of Cavan. Charlotte Bethell's parents were William Froggatt BETHELL (1809 - 7 III 1879), of that landed gentry family, of Rise Park, near Hull, and his wife (married 25 III 1841), Elizabeth BECKETT (1821 - 1870), daughter of Sir Edmund BECKETT, 4th Bt, and sister of the 1st Baron Grimthorpe.
Richard R
E X T R A C T
Dirk Bouwens, 74: Clay building expert in Norfolk and Triking owner
When the Prince of Wales wanted to mark the millennium with a private chapel at Highgrove, his country house in Gloucestershire, he chose the architect Charles Morris to oversee its design and build. Morris suggested to the prince that they build in clay lump made from the soil of his farm and looked to his office partner and clay-building expert Dirk Bouwens.
Stepping up to the brief, Dirk modified the clay-rich soil, supervised the puddling (trampling the clay, sand and straw with water to form clay lumps) and designed the 37 different moulds needed for the quatrefoil building. With its clay lump barrel-vaulted roof it looked like something out of ancient Egypt and became known as the prince’s “sanctuary”.
...Dirk was born in 1947 in Bournemouth, to Derek and Doreen (née Gaskin). His mother was appointed MBE for services to the community in Shepperton, Middlesex, and Dirk was the second of four, with an older sister Phillipa and two younger brothers Adrian and Carel. ...
...Dirk’s first marriage was in 1974 but it ended after a year and a half and by the end of the decade he had met and married Anna Preston, who worked in fashion and interior design. She owned a houseboat on the Thames in Chelsea in bad repair that Dirk set about rebuilding, and they bonded over a shared love of art and architecture. In 1981 they had their only child, Tom, who works in renewable heating....
...He took a stoical approach to the personal difficulties that he encountered, of which he spoke little. A year after Tom was born Anna was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and soon after Dirk himself was diagnosed with cancer. It was treated with chemotherapy and the removal of half a lung....