Jonathan Glancey celebrates a forgotten pioneer who believed good design was for everybody – not just the elite

When he died from a brain haemorrhage in November 1941, Frank Pick was hailed by the art historian Nikolaus Pevsner as “the greatest patron of the arts whom this century has so far produced in England, and indeed the ideal patron of our age”.

And yet Pick, a draper’s son from Spalding who rose to become the first chief executive officer of the London Passenger Transport Board and, in 1940, director general of the Ministry of Information, remains a shadowy figure today. This is all the more remarkable given that more than a billion people a year rely on the legacy of Pick’s greatest work: the world’s finest and most fully integrated urban public transport system.

At its zenith, London Transport was not just a byword for efficiency. Pick, a lay Congregationalist preacher for whom work was devotion, ensured that every bus, tram and trolleybus, every Underground train, station and litter bin along with advertising, signage, maps, seat fabrics, staff canteens, lamps and armrests were designed and produced to the highest quality. This was art for all, conceived by a man who wanted the best not just for his company or for London, but for everyone.