In 1907, legislation was brought in which required schools to become subject to regular medical inspections.
Widdows subsequently worked with his medical officer, Sidney Barwise, and two deputy architects, C. A. Edeson and T. Walker, to develop a series of innovative designs introducing high levels of natural daylight and effective cross ventilation in schools”, Historic England said.
The Builder – a trade magazine now called Building – described Widdows’ work in 1913 as a “revolution in the planning and arrangement of school buildings”.
“Derbyshire was considered to have perhaps some of the best schools in the world at the time because even in America they would say they didn’t have such good schools as Derbyshire because they were so well designed,” Chubb said.