Lauren’s friends and colleagues are sorry to share the news of her death from cancer at the age of 37.
Lauren achieved a degree in Art Conservation and Restoration at City & Guilds following completion of a foundation year at Central St. Martins in London. Following that she held various Project Conservator roles at St James’s Palace, the Wallace Collection, Westminster Abbey, and Roslyn Chapel prior to her career with the National Trust for Scotland.
Lauren was Conservator North for NTS and had held that position since 2017. Her connection to the Trust, however, started back in 2012 when she was appointed Project Conservator at Newhailes House. Following that she provided temporary cover for the role of Conservator East in 2015-16. In the intervening years Lauren also held Project Conservator roles at Seton Delaval and at Mount Stewart for the National Trust.
Lauren Jackson, 1987-2025
One of Lauren’s colleagues at the National Trust, Claire Magill ACR, recalls: ‘Lauren arrived at Mount Stewart, with her very obedient, big black labrador Barra, and landed with impact. No problem was too big, as we undertook decanting and reinstating over 100 spaces in the National Trust’s flagship property in Northern Ireland. She met everyone with the same courtesy, kindness and open mind, even the historic family, who could often be challenging. And she responded to everyone in the same ‘firm but fair’ way. Like Barra, we all knew where we stood, and dared not step out of line!’
Another NT colleague, Matt Morrison, reflects: ‘…at Mount Stewart we often referred to her as ‘The Boss Lady’, she made work fun but never allowed for the standards to slip. She would always take time to share her knowledge and wanted everyone to develop, we all learnt a lot from her. At the end of a busy day / week on the project, Lauren was able to take the work hat off and was always up for an adventure, (with Barra coming along). I have fond memories of us gathering as a group of friends, taking road trips the length of the country, going to the beach, dinners or just spending time together’.
In her role as Conservator North for NTS, Lauren provided collections care and conservation support to around 18 varied Trust places, including battlefield museums (Culloden), garden properties with significant historic collections (Inverewe and Pitmedden), mansion houses on a grand scale (Haddo, Leith Hall and House of Dun), more intimate birthplace properties (Hugh Miller’s and JM Barrie’s), a couple of islands (Canna and St Kilda), a working mill (Barry Mill) and a whole clutch of castles (including Brodie, Crathes, Drum, Fyvie and Castle Fraser). Apparently, there is no official collective noun for castles so I hope that Lauren would approve of the above.
The sheer scale and variety of the places that Lauren helped to care for demonstrates the challenge that she faced. The fact that she was able to support the teams at so many properties, despite their geographical spread, is testament to her incredible organisational abilities and her total determination and unfailing work ethic. Lauren loved heritage. She loved the places that she helped to care for. She loved the people that she worked with and the fact that she was able to make a real and tangible difference.
A real area of interest for Lauren was the care and conservation of clocks. She combined this interest, her sensitivity for the care of delicately balanced timepieces and her accomplished communication skills, in a beautifully written and illustrated piece for the NTS website: Time stands still | National Trust for Scotland. Lauren was rightly proud of this piece of work.
Lauren was a fiercely loyal colleague and made incredibly strong friendships at work. She was always willing to volunteer to help others and go the extra mile (quite literally when traversing the breadth of the North of Scotland!) to support others in their work.
Memories and anecdotes of Lauren at work often focus in on three things. Firstly, Lauren had one of the greatest smiles you’ll ever see. It was dazzling. When she smiled it just lit up the whole room. Part if that is simply good genes (and having a mother who was a dentist probably didn’t hurt) but partly that was just Lauren. That smile felt like sunshine and made you feel special and lucky to know her.
The second important thing to remember about Lauren was that she was bossy. She knew what needed doing and she wasn’t afraid to ask (tell) you to do it if that was your job (and often even if it wasn’t). She was strict and forthright in her instructions when it came to preserving collections and working in historic interiors. I remember working with her on the Newhailes project and she delivered a toolkit talk on day one to all the contractors involved. Before they were let loose on the house Lauren rounded them all up and spoke to them outside the main door. She made it unquestionably clear that the interiors of Newhailes were particularly fragile, and that this fragility was part of the story of the house. No one was left in any doubt about the historic significance of the house and its collections, and no one would be likely to forget that Lauren was in charge! What I really admired about this young 20-something Conservator was her confidence and her ability to communicate the importance of conservation. She could be a thorn in management’s side if she didn’t think they were listening or taking her seriously. She was strongly assertive, though she was always terribly polite about it.
Thirdly we couldn’t write a tribute to Lauren without mentioning her tremendous hugs and positivity. Her colleague, Gille Young, says: ‘That’s the main thing I remember about her – the warmth of her hugs.’ Lauren’s love and support for the people around her was all embracing. Lauren was eternally and unfailingly optimistic. She was always positive, ready to see the silver lining and she was always genuinely happy to see you. Challenges at work were overcome through hard work and through always seeing the best in people and the situation at hand.
Assistant Conservator at NTS, Alice Law, recalls: ‘I didn’t know Lauren for very long, but in the short time I knew her, she had a big impact.
The first time we worked together, I was part a project reinstalling the military museum in Leith Hall, during which we found ourselves having to replace old, obsolete fixtures and fittings with very limited resources, and starting to hit a wall with ideas of how to move forward. Lauren came in to lend a hand and a toolkit and saved the day! She had so much ingenuity. She came in, full of ideas, helping me to devise a hanging system, and fashioning makeshift fixings out of the spare pieces we had in our stand box. She would take one stand apart, attach it to another, wrap some Perlon around it, and before you knew it, a miniature was attached to the wall! Even after she left, she inspired me to keep coming up with solutions elsewhere in the museum.
What always struck me about Lauren was how welcoming and kind she was. She was very generous with advice, and so willing to hand over the reins to the intern, giving me responsibility that partly led me to the job I’m currently in. Working with staff in the North now, and her fellow conservators, it’s clear what a positive force she was for conservation in the Trust, and she will be sorely missed’.
Her colleague, Lesley Scott ACR, remembers Lauren: ‘I first met Lauren on starting with the National Trust for Scotland in 2020. Even though our first encounters were online her vibrancy and exuberance for conservation, especially preventive practices, very much came through the screen. With her generous capacity for making everyone she met feel at ease, she very much contributed to my transition into our trio of regional conservators. An exceptional conservator and colleague, whose pragmatism added to our conservation practice, I feel truly shocked at her untimely passing. Beautiful inside and out, I will miss her wonderful smile.’
Suzie Reid, another Conservator colleague, states: ‘As a friend and colleague, she was fun, kind, supportive and always willing to lend an ear or a hand if you ever needed it. She was a significant, valued, and important part of our small and close-knit conservation team here in the NTS, and the sudden loss of Lauren has left a huge and devastating hole in our lives.’
Clara Molina Sanchez, Conservator at Historic Environment Scotland, shares, ‘Lauren joined our conservation team at Rosslyn Chapel in 2011, and from that moment, she made a deep impression on all of us. Beyond her radiant smile, which lit up every room, Lauren’s extraordinary generosity stood out to me from the day I met her. She always shared her time and knowledge with such warmth. I’ll forever cherish our work together and the travels across Aberdeenshire and Lancashire, where she introduced me to her favourite historic sites (and tearooms!). I wish we had more time to share together, and I will miss her deeply’.
Lauren was dealt a cruel hand. After the birth of her adored son, Quinn, Lauren struggled with health challenges. However, she did so with an incredible poise and grace. Those that spent time with her in her last weeks talked of her ability to hand out compliments all over the place, and she was still hugging. She was always interested to hear your news and was quick to let you know that she thought you were doing a great job. That smile never left her and her strength and determination to smile through the pain was something to see. Lauren’s partner, Nick, shared this description of her: ‘Lauren was like a gentle stream – serene and calm with the ability to wear away obstacles (such as management) through her amazing persistence, much as the stream erodes rock. She had an incredible moral integrity that meant she would always champion the right cause and stand up for her colleagues who couldn’t find their voice’.
Conservation in Scotland has lost a bright and brilliant member of the profession. It has lost a true and loyal friend. We are all the better for having known her and should strive to live our lives to reflect the impact that Lauren had on all of us; we must be loyal to each other, and supportive of each other and willing to see the silver lining despite a currently very cloudy outlook. Thank you, Lauren, we miss you.
Lauren held a number of charities close to her heart and her family have asked that we share the link below, please donate if you can.