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In 1936 – only in his early 20s – he was appointed Secretary to the National Trust’s Country House Committee and from then on played a central role in transferring a staggering array of country houses from private ownership to the care of the Trust. A charming, witty, and sometimes unorthodox young man, Lees-Milne’s world was populated with a cast of high-borne and often eccentric friends and acquaintances.

(George) James Henry Lees-Milne (1908–1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses. He was an architectural historian, novelist, and a biographer. He is also remembered as a diarist...