Trustees

Hugh Belsey MBE – Chair of The Emery Walker Trust

Hugh is a curator, writer and lecturer. From 1981 to 2004 he was Curator of Gainsborough’s House, the artist’s birthplace museum in Sudbury, Suffolk where he established the collection and transformed the museum. Since he left the museum he has worked in a freelance capacity writing, reviewing, curating exhibitions and lecturing. Every year he gives a series of lectures in a variety of venues in Suffolk and Essex and in 2019 his comprehensive catalogue raisonné, Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies after Old Masters was published to great acclaim. He has served as both Chairman and Treasurer
of The Constable Trust.

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Andrew Eyres CGMA– Treasurer of The Emery Walker Trust

A qualified accountant, Andrew has worked in a range of senior leadership roles within the NHS in south London for over 20 years, including as Chief Executive and Director of Finance.  Andrew has extensive experience of working with NHS Boards, a reputation for strong financial management and strategy development, building and sustaining partnerships and good governance.  Andrew has a Master’s Degree in History from the University of Edinburgh.

 

Angela Clarke MBE – Hammersmith resident and former Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Councillor.

As well being a trustee, Angela also volunteers as a guide to Emery Walker’s House.  Her other volunteering interests include the Hammersmith Society, the Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group and a youth club.  She has been awarded an MBE for her work in the community.  Now retired, Angela’s working life was mainly in administration in professional institutes and the voluntary sector, including serving as the General Secretary of the Institute of Horticulture.

 

Dr James Hobson – Social historian, gardener, and philanthropy adviser

James is an academic and experienced fundraiser, whose professional life is split between France and the UK. He currently works for the Royal Academy of Music, but also holds teaching posts at SciencesPo Rennes, and in Paris. His research interests include the performance of music as a tool to social mobility in 19th-century London, and the revival of ‘ancient’ music in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. He is passionate about horticulture, and takes great pride in looking after one of central London’s biggest garden squares. He joined the Trust in 2018, and was delighted to take on the role of Trustee with particular responsibility for the garden.

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Elena Lewendon – Curator, historian and museum development specialist 

Formerly an archaeologist specialising in site management, Elena has worked in the museum sector for over a decade focusing on museum development, audience consultation, fundraising and improving visitor experience. As well as leading the Curatorial team at the London Fire Brigade Museum, Elena has been a Trustee for The Apsley Paper Trail Trust since 2012, providing strategic support to an NLHF funded working historic paper mill. Elena has a degree in Classics and Archaeology from The University of Warwick and an MA in Museum Studies from University College London.

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Max Donnelly FSA

Max is Curator of Nineteenth-Century Furniture at the V&A, where he is a member of the Curatorial Concept Team planning new international Nineteenth-Century Galleries. He has contributed to two V&A publications: C.F.A. Voysey: Arts and Crafts Designer (2016) and The Story of Scottish Design (2018). Max writes for journals including The Burlington Magazine and has lectured in the UK, Europe, North America and China. He is a member of the Decorative Arts Society Committee.

 

Samantha Wyndham – Arts, heritage and museum professional

Samantha has worked for the National Trust, Georgian Group, Sir John Soane’s Museum, the Garrick Club, and the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Her work has included writing, researching and editing; running membership activities and events; cataloguing and curating; and organising major commemorative and fundraising events. Samantha has written books for the Barrow Cadbury Trust and the National Gallery, and currently works as a freelance writer and researcher. She has been a trustee of The Household Cavalry Museum since April 2015.

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Tessa Wild – Independent curator and writer

Tessa is Co-Director of the Attingham Trust Summer School and an independent curator.  She previously worked for the Georgian Group and the National Trust, where she was a curator for 18 years.  During this time, she curated Red House in Bexleyheath and Standen in Sussex amongst a portfolio of artists' and writers' houses in London and country houses in Oxfordshire, Sussex and East Anglia.  She is the author of William Morris & His Palace of Art, (Philip Wilson, 2018) and The Dog, (Chatsworth House Trust, 2019).  She is also a member of the British and Irish Furniture Makers Online (BIFMO) Outreach and Education Committee.

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Tony Evans – Education and Local Government Professional

Since retiring from being Assistant Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Tony has served on the board of a number of charitable bodies and undertaken a range of voluntary roles. He is currently a Director and Company Secretary of a company building affordable homes in South East London.

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Martin Levy - Furniture and Art Dealer and Specialist

Martin Levy FSA is a London-based dealer in furniture and works of art.  He has published extensively on nineteenth-century patronage, designers and manufacturers.  He is a Trustee of the Oliver Ford Trust (1997-present) and the Bard Graduate Center, New York (2017-present).  His other roles include membership of the Spoliation Advisory Panel (2000-present), Chairman of the Decorative Arts Society (2017-present), Chairman of the Kelmscott Campaign Group (2017-present) and Board Member, Gilbert Trust for the Arts (2019-present).  He served on the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art (1997-2007) and was Treasurer of Furniture History Society (2002-13).

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Karen Butti - Conservation Architect

Karen Butti is a conservation accredited architect and partner at specialist historic buildings practice Thomas Ford and Partners. She was the architect for the works to 7 Hammersmith Terrace as part of Hammersmith Arts and Crafts project. Her master’s and postgraduate study subjects were both on Arts and Crafts buildings in London and this has been followed by architectural commissions to a number of them. As well as providing advice on building matters, she is also the representative of the Art Workers’ Guild to the Trust.

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Di Coia - Marketing, Advertising, Sponsorship Professional

Di Coia is a Marketing, Advertising and Sponsorship specialist. She is based in West London and holds a BA in Psychology.  She worked in the advertising, marketing and sponsorship industry for 28 years and specialised in “Partnership Marketing”
Since retiring 6 years ago Di has been a guide at Emery Walker House and has also done Volunteer work at The Design Museum.
Di is a member of The Bedford Park Society and the Chiswick Arts Society and was previously a Trustee for the Cancer Counselling Trust. 

 

Simon Greenley - Commercial law

Simon Greenley was a commercial litigation partner in city law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP from 1984 until 2018. Simon represented the Lloyds Insurance market and global insurance underwriters in London, the US and Switzerland in large scale insurance and reinsurance disputes; also specialising in professional liability defence for banks, capital markets professionals, directors and officers of quoted companies, trustees and a range of UK professional service providers. Simon served as a trustee for a charity whose objective was to break the cycle of children's recruitment into East End gangs and currently serves as a trustee for charity which combats homelessness. Simon joined the Emery Walker Trust in July 2023, where he hopes that his legal background will help to promote and protect the Trust's commercial interests.

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Dr Matthew Heron -  Anaesthetist and Medical Historian

Matthew Heron is a doctor working in the NHS, specialising in anaesthesia. In addition to his clinical work, he has an interest in medical history and how this can be used to explore complex ideas in anaesthesia and medicine more widely with patients. His podcast, ‘Ether/Or,’ was featured as a Podcast of the Week in the Times Scotland. He worked with the Anaesthesia Heritage Centre, the only museum in the country dedicated to the history of anaesthesia, to develop their 2023 exhibition ‘Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases,’ exploring the role of anaesthetists through the lens of three epidemics/pandemics: cholera; polio; and COVID19.