Architect. Born in Swaffham, Norfolk, he trained with Jeffry Wyatville and established offices in London and Norwich, undertaking a number of country houses – in styles ranging from Greek revival to Gothic to Italian – few of which survive as well as the Leicester Monument at Holkham, Norfolk, of 1845–1848.
Bibliography: R. Cocke, Public Sculpture of Norfolk and Suffolk, Liverpool, 2013, pp. 107–09; R. O’Donnel, ‘W.J. Donthorn’, Architectural History, XXI, 1978, pp. 83–92; N. Pevsner and B. Wilson, Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East (The Buildings of England), New Haven and London, 1997, passim; N. Pevsner and B. Wilson, Norfolk 2: North-West and South (The Buildings of England), New Haven and London, 1999, passim.
Richard Cocke, 2013