Strutt served on the Derby Corporation from the age of 28, serving in numerous offices, including Chief Magistrate and two terms of office as
Mayor of Derby. He served his second term as the first mayor of the reformed borough of Derby, taking office from November 1835 until November 1836. and gave an annual subscription to support its work.
The exhibition held in the Institute's lecture hall in 1839 included paintings which came from Strutt's collection. Many of these are thought to have joined the early collection of Derby Museums. He also gave £1,000 to the Athenaeum Society, helping to build the
Athenaeum Building, an art gallery and museum offering collections of art and exhibitions to the general public. He also gave some financial support to the Derbyshire General Infirmary (later to become the
Derbyshire Royal Infirmary), which was designed and built by his elder brother,
William. Strutt is probably best known for his gift to the people of Derby of the
Arboretum, which was designed to give instruction and be a place for exercise and entertainment; it is also recorded as the first public park in England. He enlisted the services of
John Claudius Loudon to lay out his design, which was completed at a personal cost of £10,000. Strutt died on 13 January 1844 at his home in St. Peters Street, after attending a meeting to cast his vote in favour of improving Derby's sanitary conditions. He had been ill for some time and suffered a relapse from which he never recovered. He was interred along with his wife, Isabella, at the Friargate Unitarian Chapel in Friar Gate. The chapel was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the Heritage Gate office complex, which now incorporates a modern Unitarian Chapel. ==References==