Charlotte Benton, who has died of a heart attack aged 79, was one of a handful of pioneers who helped shape design history as a discrete discipline in the 1970s and 80s, initially in collaboration with her husband, Tim.
From 1972 the Bentons worked together on the first art history course for the recently founded Open University. The module A305 History of Architecture and Design 1890-1939 was launched in 1975 and ran until 1982, and was described by the journal Design Issues as “the single most important work of design history to have emerged in Britain”.
