James Cornford, 1935-2011
James Cornford, a former director of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, died on 26 September, aged 76.
Starting out in academia, he moved into a career as a social reformer in the 1970s, leading a range of grant-making and social policy-based organisations. He ran the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, the Nuffield Foundation, and the Institute for Public Policy Research before his appointment as director of the Foundation in 1994. He was also a prominent voice for constitutional reform as chair of the Campaign for Freedom of Information from 1984-97. He left PHF in 1997 to work as an advisor to the new government on constitutional reform and freedom of information. After retiring from frontline reform activity, he chaired the Dartington Hall Trust and the School for Social Entrepreneurship.
As director of the Foundation he oversaw the later stages of, and follow-up to, the National Commission on Education – then the Foundation’s largest project to date – culminating in the presentation of important evidence about, for instance, children who succeed against the odds. For PHF an important outcome of this work was a commitment to make the fate of low achievers at school, in training and the labour market, a focus for support – something that has continued into the present Education and Learning programme.
During his tenure the Foundation’s Awards for individual artists began; these have continued annually to become the PHF Awards for Artists and Composers – today the most generous arts awards in the UK. In his director’s report of 1995-96 he wrote: “The awards can help only a few, but we hope that the fact that they exist gives encouragement to others and shows that their art and their ambition are recognised as important to society at large as well as to themselves.”
He is fondly remembered by those members of today’s PHF staff team who worked with him during his time at the Foundation. They recall his friendly, easy-going manner, though point also to his sharp intellect. He is described as “completely relaxed but got everything done very efficiently”, and as “tremendous fun to work with and someone who always had an open-door policy”.