Architect. He devoted most of his career to teaching rather than to designing. He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby, and studied at the Liverpool School of Architecture under Charles Reilly between 1905 and 1909. He graduated with first-class honours, winning also the University travelling scholarship and the Holt travelling scholarship, with which he funded a year’s study at the British School in Athens. He won the Royal Institute of British Architects Essay Prize in 1913 with his ‘Introduction to the Theory of Architecture’. He taught at the School of Architecture from 1911 until 1952, taking Reilly’s place between 1915 and 1918 and succeeding him as Roscoe Professor of Architecture in 1933. Under Reilly he was responsible for most of the routine teaching and administration at the School. He exhibited four times at the Walker Art Gallery between 1924 and 1930 and once at the Royal Academy in 1924. During the 1920s he was an important figure in the Sandon Studios Society. He designed the Merchant Taylors’ School War Memorial at Crosby (1923); the Birkenhead War Memorial (1923–25); and the Liverpool Cenotaph (1926–30). His other works include the Cocker Memorial Clock Tower, Stanley Park, Blackpool (1927); the Liverpool Veterinary Hospital; extensions to the Liverpool University Students’ Union; and the new building for Liverpool School of Architecture. He was also responsible for many private houses on Merseyside.
Bibliography: R.F. Bisson, The Sandon Studios Society and the Arts, Liverpool, 1965, pp. 152, 169; The Builder 27 July 1956, p. 149; T. Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of Liverpool, Liverpool, 1997, pp. xiii, 98–102, 148, 219–20, 266, 324; Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, September 1956; Liverpool Daily Post: (i) 22 March 1933; (ii) 23 July 1956; E. Morris and E. Roberts, Public Sculpture of Cheshire and Merseyside, Liverpool, 2012, pp. xxiv, xxv, 27–31, 159; J. Sharples et al, Charles Reilly and the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904–1933 (Walker Art Gallery), Liverpool, 1996, p. 168; Who Was Who (online edn.), 2007.
Emma Roberts, 2012