at 82 Ladbroke Road, Notting Hill, Handley-Read committed suicide. He left a substantial estate, valued for probate at £161,768. His wife Lavinia killed herself on 9 December of the same year. These events shocked their friends; the architectural historian Mark Girouard, who was close to them both, wrote, "they loved each other, had enough money, a pleasant home, plenty of friends, and had achieved something remarkable." In an article he wrote in Country Life in March 1972, Girouard described his visits to their London home to view their collection. Of Charles and Lavinia, he recalled "two highly strung, vulnerable and complicated people who for 18 years had supported each other". Their collection of Victorian artefacts was broken up at sale. Many pieces were bought by major museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, as well as private collectors. The largest part of the collection to stay together was the 200 plus pieces purchased by The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford, including William Burges's own bed and dressing table. Handley-Read's notes on William Burges were passed to Joseph Mordaunt Crook and became the basis of his seminal work on Burges, William Burges and the High Victorian Dream. The book received very positive reviews and was instrumental in establishing Burges's rehabilitation. A rare criticism is contained in a review written by Anthony Symondson in 1982. Symondson's critique relates not to Burges, but rather to Crook's portrait of Handley-Read; "those of us who knew (him) do not find him in Dr Crook's prelude, however cleverly written and closely researched". References Sources 1916 births 1971 deaths People educated at Bryanston School Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge British conscientious objectors British architecture writers British architectural historians Suicides in Kensington 20th-century British historians 1971 suicides