Lubbock’s initiative was welcomed by The Daily Telegraph . “The people may forget a great many deeds of glory and names of renown; but they will never forget him who has given them a new and universal day of repose and recreation.” In 1874, Sir John retained his Maidstone seat, (the town returned two MPs until 1885) but was defeated in the 1880 general election. He was raised to the peerage as the first Baron Avebury in 1900 and died in 1913. In 1938 the estate was sold to Kent County Council, which used it as a nurses’ training centre. It passed to Bromley Borough Council in 1965 and has been preserved as Green Belt land available to the public to enjoy the nature, animal habitats and leisure opportunities. Sir John’s grandson, Eric Lubbock, the Fourth Baron Avebury, served as a Liberal MP from 1962 to 1970 after winning a sensational victory in the Orpington by-election in March 1962. High Elms House was destroyed by fire on August Bank Holiday Monday in 1967 but a blue plaque at the estate honours Sir John’s name. Long before the plaque he had been in the consciousness of the working man, for some had suggested the August Bank Holiday should be called St Lubbock’s Day. St Lubbock’s Day 20