Architects & Artists R

G Ralph
G Ralph was the architect who adapted the former Congregational church at Ashurst Wood, Sussex for Anglican worship between 1977 and 1979.  He may be the same as George Ralph, an architect of that name from Bromley who was born in c1942 and whose practice still exists.
Adapted: Ashurst Wood (1977-79)

J E Ralph
According to directories, James Emerson Ralph (1908-91) had an office in Gower Street, London between 1952 and 1967.  In the latter year he completed the church of Holy Trinity, Wealdstone which had been started in the C19.  He lived both in Hampstead and at Holmbury St Mary, Surrey.
Designed:  Horsham, – St John, Broadbridge Heath (1962-63)

T D Randall
Terence Donovan Randall (1923-98) was born at Leytonstone, Essex, the son of a tinsmith, and trained at Chiswick and Twickenham Schools of Art, becoming in addition a protege of F H Spear, according to J Hayward.  In 1948 he was taken on as an employee of Faith Craft and a window of that year at Sparham, Norfolk appears to be his earliest recorded glass, whilst he also worked on the Festival of Britain in 1951.  His glass during this period was made at Faith Craft’s premises at 7 Tufton Street, Westminster, though there are indications that he probably undertook work on his own account as well.  He was certainly independent by 1961, when he had his own premises in Worcester Park, Surrey, though he produced at least one further window for Faith Craft as late as 1966 at St Andrew, Stoke Newington; otherwise his later work is poorly recorded.  By the 1960s he was also designing other church fittings, including a font-cover at St Philip and St James, Fleet, Hampshire.  He seems never to have married and died at Gravesend, Kent
My thanks to Fr Stephen Keeble for augmenting my information about Randall, about whom relatively little is known
Glass: Forest Row

W Ranger
William Ranger (1799-1863) was born at Ringmer, the son of a builder, Richard Ranger (1774/75-1839) (Colvin (4th edition p843) errs in giving him the name William as well as his son).  The father moved to Brighton, no doubt because of the opportunities presented by its rapid expansion at the time, and by c1823 the son was working with him.  He seems to have been successful at an early age, for within a year he had been appointed as the main contractor for the building of St Peter, Victoria Gardens, designed by Sir C Barry.  Barry used him again in 1827 for the repairs and improvements he undertook at Petworth church.  Directory entries from 1832 (Pigot’s Directory) and 1839 (Robson’s Directory) show William at 1 (Upper) St James’s Street, Brighton, though he appears in fact to have moved to London around 1833.  References at this address after this date are more probably to other members of the family – his father continued to live in the street until his death and so did his younger brother George (baptised 1808) who was also a builder as well as a coal merchant (PD 1839).   The initial object of William’s move to London was to promote a new type of artificial stone he had invented which met with some success – it was used on occasion by Barry, an indication that their association continued.  Before he left Brighton William had also done work as an architect or surveyor, for he undertook repairs in 1827 to Lancing, St James and produced a design for a new aisle at Southwick church in 1833.  The latter was not carried out since a more ambitious design by J Garrett was preferred.  Little about the latter is known save that he did have other connections with William Ranger.  Increasingly after his move to London William was active as a civil engineer, in particular for the Great Western Railway, though this led to a long and acrimonious lawsuit.  In 1848 he was appointed a Superintending Inspector of the General Board of Health, a peripatetic post that required him to report on local sanitation and other drainage projects.  He remained in this position for the rest of his life, though heavily criticised at one time for his part in the design and construction of a new drainage system in Croydon which led to a conflict of interests.  He also continued to undertake architectural work, notably two churches in Suffolk during the 1830s (Colvin 4th ed p843).  Pevsner, in the original edition of Buildings of England: Suffolk, is very uncomplimentary about both.   These reveal a further link to Brighton since they were built for the Marquess of Bristol, who owned land in what became Kemp Town.  Ranger also worked for the marquess at Ickworth house, his country residence in Suffolk.
Obit: The Builder 21 p672; Source: DNB
My thanks to Johanna Roethe for drawing my attention to Colvin’s error over the name of Ranger’s father, which had led me to some false deductions.  I am also grateful to David Parsons for information about Ranger’s work at Petworth
Altered: Lancing, – St James (1827);Southwick (1833 – not carried out)
Contractor: Brighton and Hove, – St Peter Victoria Gardens (1824-28); Petworth (1827-29)

T Rassell
Thomas Rassell prepared a design for the enlarging of St Andrew, Oxmarket, Chichester in 1856.  He may be presumed to be the surveyor of that name whose address was Washington Street, Summers Town, Chichester (KD) and whose dates were 1803/04-63.  Census records down to 1861 show he never married and his name is also found in the records as Thomas Rasell or Russell.  Nothing further about his professional activities has yet come to light.
Enlargement: Chichester, – St Andrew Oxmarket (1856 – unexecuted)

J Rawlinson
John Rawlinson (1866/67-1934) was the son of a barrister and became a pupil of Sir A W Blomfield.  He was elected as ARIBA and went into practice in 1891.  He lived in Chelsea and until 1924 had an office at 11 Adam Street, Adelphi (KD/L).  Some indication of his professional interests is shown by the fact that he was honorary secretary of the Ecclesiastical Surveyors Association, a position also held by L W Ridge (see this section below).
Lit: BAL Biog file
Extended: Isfield (1893-94)

G W Read
There is scope for confusion since D Hadley includes as designers for J Powell and Sons in the early C20 both G W Read and G Wooliscroft-Rhead. G W Read is relatively simple for he was clearly one of the designers the company used at this date, often in conjunction with other designers, though his dates and first names are unknown.  Wooliscroft-Rhead is, however, more problematic, for he is well documented as a designer of tiles for Minton and Doulton. His stated authorship of stained glass is in some doubt since there is no other evidence that he did such work. There is thus a need for further research but for the moment the authorship as listed by Hadley has been retained, with glass he attributes to Wooliscroft-Rhead listed under the latter name, together with his known work in tiling.
Glass: Bishopstone,  Brighton and Hove, – St Martin (Made by Powell’s) c1904, Rudgwick

H Read

(Henry) Herbert Read (1860-1904) was born in Wincanton, Somerset, but from 1874 trained as a woodworker in Exeter under H Hems, in whose workshop he rose to be foreman.  He founded the St Sidwell’s Art Works in 1891 in the same city and soon became a close rival of his former employer.  His firm’s work is to be found widely in Devon and Somerset churches and it became particularly known for its restoration work.  After Herbert Read’s early death the company was taken over by his son, Herbert Edmund Read (1885-1950) and became known as Herbert Read Ltd.  The firm continued to produce church fittings and it was involved in the repair of Exeter cathedral after bomb damage.  A third Herbert Read (usually known as Dick) (c1925-72) took over the firm in 1950 and it continued without any further change of name; in the 1990s it restored the Grinling Gibbons woodwork at Hampton Court and wooden bosses at Windsor castle after the fires at both.  During the time H Harrison (from 1972 to 1995) was in charge it extended its activities to stonework and the conservation of paintings and moved to Tiverton, Devon, but it ceased trading in the later 1990s, though a firm of stonemasons of the name currently listed at St Sidwell’s works, Tiverton seems likely to be connected.
See: Hugh Harrison: Family Businesses; Generation Gain, SPAB Magazine Spring 2019 pp59-61
Fitting: Bexhill, – St Mark, Little Common, screen

J B Rebecca
John Biagio Rebecca (1772-1847) was born at Saffron Walden, Essex, the illegitimate son of Biagio Rebecca (1731-1808), an Italian-born decorative painter who became an Associate of the RA.  The son lived in Worthing where much of his work is to be found.  He was involved in the development of the resort, though he had property in London where he also worked and died.  He designed country houses, notably the remarkable Castle Goring, outside Worthing, which is classical on one side and castellated on the other.  He also repaired and improved country houses, including Penshurst Place, Kent and Knebworth, Hertfordshire.  An early member of the then IBA, he resigned his fellowship in 1846.
Lit: M W D Norman: Biagio and John Biagio Rebecca – a Sketch towards a Biography, typescript in SAS Library, 2001
Designed: Worthing, – St Paul (1812)

C F Reeks
Charles Frederick Reeks (1822-1908) was a pupil of Sir James Pennethorne (1801-71) and then in the office of T Cubitt, who at the time was working extensively in Brighton.  Reeks started in Hastings in partnership with his father and then from 1848 with A J Humbert whom he met when travelling in Italy.  In the same year the practice became associated with the Crown Estates and later the Board of Works (Proc RIBA) which had interests in Hastings.  He probably owed this advancement to Pennethorne who was closely linked to many public building projects.  When after 1854 new work ceased because of the Crimean War, Reeks became Receiver of the Crown Estates, in which office he remained until 1899.  In this capacity he worked on various royal estates and whilst Humbert was mainly responsible for the royal mausolea at Windsor, Reeks may have had a hand by virtue of his position.  He did not, however, play any part in Humbert’s reconstruction of Sandringham for the Prince of Wales (started in 1870) but appears to have been active in private practice, mainly in the Windsor area.  Humbert’s and Reeks’s most conspicuous work in Hastings must have been the chimney of the gasworks (later reconstructed), which was modelled on a mediaeval Italian tower.
Lit: BAL Biog file; Obit: RIBAJ 15 p386
Restored: Bodiam (1853)

C Regnart
Charles Regnart (1749-1844) was the son of a sculptor of Flemish ancestry, though he was himself born in Bristol.  He moved to London and like so many of his kind, settled in the area around Fitzroy Square.  He produced many memorials which are to be found in most parts of England.  Some of them show considerable originality.
Memorials: Buxted, – St Margaret; Hartfield; Mayfield

A D Reid
Allan Douglas Reid (1898-1977) was the partner of A Young and in 1925, when he exhibited at the RA had an address in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.  Later addresses included Bedford Row and Helston, Cornwall.  Though Young was much older, Reid himself continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s to use the gothic style for both Anglican and Catholic churches.  He did not retire until 1974, by which time his deeply traditional approach must have seemed very anachronistic.
Lit: BAL Biog file
Designed: Lancing, – St Michael (1924)

J Reid
John Reid was active in the 1950s as a woodcarver.  Little is known of him but the presence in Hastings of both his known works in Sussex suggests he could have been local.
Fitting: Hastings, – All Saints, figure; – St Leonard, Marina, font

S Reid
For Stuart Reid, see under C R B Godman and Kay.
Restored: Findon (1994)

P Rendl
Peter Rendl was a woodcarver of Oberammergau in 1931 and like J Mayr at an earlier date, also a leading performer in the Passion Play.
Fitting: Brighton and Hove, – St Michael, rood

W B Reynolds
William Bainbridge Reynolds (1855-1935) was the son of a professor of mathematics but information about his earliest years is otherwise sparse.  However, he appears to have trained as an architect under G E Street and then worked in J P Seddon’s office (though Barrie and Wendy Armstrong state it was the other way round, underlining the obscurity of his early life).  He turned increasingly to the applied arts, mainly metalworking, and founded his own company in Clapham in the 1890s.  This proved a success and lasted until his retirement to Hove.  His work was in the Arts and Crafts idiom (he was a member of the Art Workers Guild) and he designed glass for E and C O’Neill.  He was also associated with Sir W Tapper, notably in connection with some fittings at York minster.
Lit: DNB
Fittings: Brighton and Hove, – St Barnabas, screen; – St Paul, memorial
Glass: Bexhill, – St Peter; Brighton and Hove, – St Helen, Hangleton; – St Patrick

Sir W Reynolds-Stephens
Sir William Ernest Reynolds-Stephens (1862-1943) was born in Detroit, USA of British parentage, but returned to Britain in his youth.  ‘Reynolds’ was originally his third forename, but from 1891 he hyphenated it.  After early training as an engineer, he studied as a painter at the RA Schools.  Later he moved increasingly to sculpture, displaying the influence of the late Pre-Raphaelites and of Alfred Gilbert (1854-1934), whose use of materials of contrasting colour he frequently followed.  He also designed furniture and some stained glass and was a member of the Art Workers Guild.  He devised complete decorative schemes, both for churches and houses, of which the most remarkable was Great Warley church in Essex.  He became an honorary ARIBA in recognition of his involvement with such schemes.
Lit: DNB; C Sherlock: William Reynolds-Stephens, 2002 (Privately printed; copy in NAL); NAL Information file
Memorial: Newtimber

P Reyntiens
Patrick Reyntiens (1925-2021) had Scottish roots on his mother’s side but his surname came from his Belgian-born father.  He first trained in glass-making in Edinburgh after which he moved to the studio of J E Nuttgens in Buckinghamshire. He both designed glass on his own and in collaboration with J Piper and the results are in many great churches including the new Coventry cathedral and Ampleforth abbey. He was also closely connected with D Wasley whom he had originally trained. For many years Reyntiens lectured in Edinburgh on ecclesiastical art more generally than glass.  However, he remained living and working outside High Wycombe, before moving to Somerset.  He also produced metalwork and wrote about making stained glass.
Obit: The Times 11 November 2021
Glass: Hastings, – St Leonard, Marina

S Ricci
Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734) was a Venetian painter, who travelled widely in Europe.  During this time he spent the years 1708-10 and 1712-16 in England, but returned to Italy after failing to win the commission for painting the dome of St Paul’s.  The strongest influence on him was the C16 painter Paolo Veronese (1528-88) and Ricci in turn was an important influence on later C18 Venetians like Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770).
Painting: Thakeham (formerly)

T Rice
All that is known of Thomas Rice is three monuments that bear his name, dating from between 1823 and 1840.  His workshop was in Brompton, then beginning to be developed as a suburb of London.
Memorial: Amberley

W G Rich
The artist named W G Rich who produced some paintings in St Peter, Bexhill in 1893 is most probably William George Rich (1857-1929), a prolific painter during the later 1870s and 1880s, whose works during this period, mostly conventional landscapes, are to be found on various art dealers’ websites.  There are few landscapes by him after the 1880s and there is stained glass by what must be the same artist dated between 1894 and 1900 in three churches in Dorset and more  of 1892 at Leigh Wood, Somerset.  This suggests a change of artistic orientation and this is borne out, with further support from the location of his known works, by his entry in the 1901 census, in which he was living in Bridport, Dorset and described himself as ‘Artist (ecclesiastical)’.  No further reference to him in an artistic capacity has come to light, for there seems to have been a further major change in his life.  What must be the same man appears in the 1911 census. His age and place of birth tally and so do those of his wife and daughter when checked against the 1901 census. However, he was then living in Hammersmith and working as a salesman at Waring and Gillow’s furniture shop in Oxford Street.  The strongest arguments in support of his authorship of the paintings at Bexhill are his stated occupation in 1901 and the fact that he died at Pevensey Bay, thereby establishing a link with Sussex, albeit at a much later date.  A possible though less likely alternative is Alfred William Rich (1856-1921),who was born at Lindfield, Sussex and became a landscape-painter in watercolours after training as an engraver and heraldic draughtsman; there is no evidence of an involvement in church art.  He took up the study of painting in 1890 and studied at the Slade School and settled in London – in 1911 he was living in Fulham.  However, his death is recorded in Gloucestershire.
Wall paintings: Bexhill – St Peter

Sir A E Richardson
Sir Albert Edward Richardson (1880-1964) trained as an architect in the classical tradition, to which he remained loyal throughout his career.  From 1919 he lived at Ampthill, Bedfordshire in a style which changed little from the C18.  Much of his church work is to be found in Bedfordshire and adjacent counties, though his deep knowledge of the classical style led to many commissions for restoring C17 and C18 buildings that had been damaged in World War II, particularly in the London area.  He was also responsible for several larger commissions, particularly Bracken House in the City, completed in 1958 though since altered.  He was elected RA in 1944 and President of the Academy in 1954.
Decorations: East Grinstead, – St Swithun 1955 (not completed)

E Richardson
Edward Richardson (1812-69) first appears in 1832, when he entered the RA Schools.  Starting in 1836 he exhibited at the RA for 30 years, showing a wide range of works including monuments.  He became known as a restorer of mediaeval monuments, including two in Chichester cathedral and the effigies in the Temple church in London.  The latter project in particular aroused great controversy and led to his failure to be elected to the Society of Antiquaries.  He died in Brighton.
Memorial: Hastings, –  All Saints

S Richardson
Samuel Richardson (1805/06-77) is recorded as a bricklayer of Frant in 1861 and 1871.  A bricklayer there named William Richardson in 1881 is probably related, though he had no son of this name.
Extended: Frant (1868)

Riches and Esam
It is tempting to identify this pair as Francis Robert Riches (1868/69-1903) and the poorly documented Frank Esam, though they are not found working together beyond the single reference in connection with Little Common.  There are references to both at separate addresses in Bexhill between 1884 and 1891.  Esam cannot be found in any census records and the earliest certain reference of any kind is in 1887, when he was alone at 1 Station Street (KD); the latest is in 1891 at 21A Havelock Road, Hastings (ibid).  Riches is more fully documented over a longer period and was born in Suffolk.  The name appears in Bexhill by 1885, when the firm of Riches and Co appears (ESDBB) as architects and surveyors of 1 Western Road.  In 1887 it had moved to Station Yard (KD).  In or before 1890 this may be presumed to have merged into the newly appeared partnership of Riches and Gray of Devonshire Terrace (KD),which had moved by 1911 to 21 Sea Road, Bexhill.  They were auctioneers, estate agents, architects and surveyors, and still existed in 1973 (Stubbs Directory); the other original partner was George Herbert Gray (d1929), who laid out parts of the new resort of Bexhill for the De La Warr estate and designed a number of buildings locally, though no Anglican churches (Bexhill Museum website).  In 1891 F R Riches was certainly living in Bexhill, calling himself an auctioneer, but in 1901 he had moved to Balham where he was described as an estate agent manager.  What is clearly the same man is recorded as having died in the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum at Brookwood in 1903.  He left assets worth £25 to his widow Kate, who is recorded in 1911 as a widow living in Lambeth with a daughter born in Bexhill, so there can be little doubt about the identification.  There are, however, some curious discrepancies about the course of his life while in Bexhill. The work at Little Common was apparently undertaken when he was only about sixteen and this predates the first mention of Riches and Co.  This could suggest that there were more senior relatives working in the town in the same profession, though Francis Robert is the only person of the name listed in the town, including in ESDBB.  Furthermore, as separate premises in the name of Riches and Esam existed throughout the period, it is likely that they came together informally without forming a partnership.  Notwithstanding the contemporary reference in The Builder in the case of Little Common, something similar happened with practices elsewhere on occasion.
Altered: Bexhill, – St Mark, Little Common (1884)

Sir W B Richmond
Sir William Blake Richmond (1842-1921) was, like his father, a painter.  He was encouraged from an early age by John Ruskin (1819-1900) and studied at the RA Schools.  He was also friendly with the future Lord Leighton (1830-96) and painted mythological scenes in a similar academic idiom, as well as enjoying high esteem as a portrait painter.  He also made designs for stained glass, which he commissioned J Powell and Sons to make and they also made what became his most lasting work, the mosaics for St Paul’s.  Although he himself did not make any glass, his interest in the applied arts inclined him towards the Art Workers Guild, of which he rose to be master in 1891.  He travelled, especially in Italy, about which he produced books and exhibited views.
Painting: Brighton and Hove, – St Andrew, Church Road, Hove

T Rickman
Thomas Rickman (1825/26-49) was related to Thomas Rickman (1772-1841), who was one of the leading early C19 architects in the gothic style, about which he wrote extensively – he invented the once standard terms such as Decorated and Early English.  It is doubtful whether his younger namesake had time to achieve much before his early death.  In particular, his plans for the refitting of Harting at the age of 19 may well have been the project of a student or pupil rather than a serious one.
Refitted: Harting (1845 – probably never carried out)

W Ride
William Ride (1722/23-78) was a surveyor in London, who was probably born in Haslemere.  He was employed by several noblemen, including as far afield as Sherborne castle in Dorset and was also surveyor to the estate to the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood house.  He benefited from the proximity of Chichester to study the antiquities of the city and probably restored the Market Cross there.
Designed: Chichester, – St Pancras (1749-50)

L S Rider
Lionel Sidney Rider (1916-2000) became the partner of the Bexhill architect Ernest Bunce, who had been active in the extensive house-building industry of the town since the 1930s.  There may have been a link with the long-established firm of Riches and Gray (see this section above under Riches and Esam), as they shared an address.
Designed: Hastings, – St Peter and St Paul, Parkstone Road (1969-70)
Repaired: Hooe (1959 and 1978); Ninfield (1957 etc and 1972)

L W Ridge
Lacy William Ridge (1839-1922) was Chichester Diocesan Surveyor and Architect from 1871 to 1917 and for many years he was honorary secretary of the Ecclesiastical Surveyors Association.  He was born in London of Sussex ancestry and after training under Philip Charles Hardwick (1822-92) became B Ferrey’s assistant.  In 1863 he passed the RIBA’s Architectural Examination in its first year and won its Medal of Merit in 1864 for measured drawings of Boxgrove.  His primary professional address appears to have been in London (where he was Mayor of Holborn and in the Volunteers) but he also had an address in Worthing and retired there in 1911, after he gave up all but ecclesiastical work.  From 1901-11 his partner was William Charles Waymouth (1872-1967), who lived north of London and practised mainly in Hertfordshire.  They were responsible during this time for several residential buildings in central London in a range of styles.  By contrast, Ridge’s churches were gothic, in plain brick or flint and he was a more cautious restorer than his predecessor in the diocese, G M Hills.
Lit: BAL Biog file; Obit: RIBAJ 29 p546
Designed: Ashurst Wood (1884 – first church); Blackham (1902 as ‘Withyham’); Brighton and Hove, – St Alban (1910); – St Matthias (1907-11); Burgess Hill, – St Andrew (1903-08 – incomplete); Holtye Common (1892); Hurst Green (1884); Mannings Heath (1881 – attr); Shoreham, – St Giles (1906 – attr); Turners Hill (1894-97, altered); Worthing, – St Symphorian, Durrington (1914-15 – probable)
Restored/altered: Alfriston (1888); Appledram (1877 and 1890); Beddingham (1906); Bepton (1878); Boxgrove (1886); Bury (1893); Earnley (1873-74 and 1881); East Marden (1875-77); Eastbourne, – St Mary (1908); East Wittering, – Assumption (1875-76); Egdean (1885); Hailsham (1887-89); Harting (1892); Haywards Heath, – St Wilfrid (1908); Heathfield (1892); Hooe (1890); Linch (1886); Lullington (1895); Midhurst (1882-83); North Marden (1886-87); Parham (1890 – may only have advised); Pevensey (attr) 1893; Poynings (1882); Racton (1875-76); Seaford (1902); Sidlesham (1890-91); Slinfold (1898); Southwick (1888 and 1896); Stedham (1885 and 1894); Sullington (1873); Tangmere (1885); Twineham (1894); Uckfield (1888 – plans); West Thorney (1886); Willingdon (1904)

T E Roberts
Terence (Terry) Edward Roberts was a member of Roth and Partners (see this section below) in Chichester in the 1970s and subsequently moved to C Mercer Architects Co-operative Ltd.  He remains a member of the successor to this practice, HMDW Architects Ltd of that city.
Repaired: West Thorney (1975)

V Robertson
Vanessa Robertson (now Martin) designed the tapestry on the east wall of the chancel at Fairwarp in 1986 when working at Dartington Hall, Devon, where she had studied.
Tapestry: Fairwarp

W Robertson
William Robertson (1816/17-80) was listed as a plumber and painter of High Street, Hurstpierpoint in 1871.  Despite some ambiguity in the record of his work at Keymer church, he was pretty clearly an artisan rather than an artist.
Painting: Keymer, chancel decoration 

A W Robinson
Arnold Wathen Robinson (1888-1955) was a pupil and then assistant of C Whall, after which he joined the Glass House (see under Lowndes and Drury), where he was active between 1912 and 1923.  In the latter year he bought the long established Bristol firm of J Bell and Son, where he was followed by his son, Geoffrey (b 1935).   During World War II he was assisted by another of Whall’s pupils, E Woore.
Glass: Burwash

C Robinson
Chris Robinson established the Brighton practice of drp Architects in 1983, together with Alan Deacon and others.  This went into liquidation in 2009 and two new practices emerged, one of them Robinson and Deacon which still uses the former, larger practice’s address in Upper Lewes Road, Brighton.  They cover a wide range of projects, including both heritage and housing.
Remodelled: Worthing, – St Paul (as social centre) (completed 2010)

P F Robinson
Peter Frederick Robinson (1776-1858) was a pupil of William Porden, who designed the riding school attached to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, today known as The Dome.  Robinson was later an assistant to Henry Holland during the period that he himself was working on the Royal Pavilion and then became a prolific designer and improver of country houses in a range of styles.
Designed: Coolhurst (1838-39) (attr)

Sir T Robinson
Sir Thomas Robinson (c1702-77) was a gentleman architect who was nicknamed ‘Long Tom’ on account of his height.  He travelled in Italy and Greece, but his extravagance led to his procuring the position of Governor of Barbados, where he designed a number of buildings.  On return he became the main shareholder of the Ranelagh Gardens in London, which proved more lucrative, but he nevertheless had to sell the family seat, Rokeby Park in Yorkshire, which he had designed.  Unsurprisingly, as a friend of Lord Burlington (1694-1753), he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Palladian style, using it to complete Castle Howard.  Among the buildings he designed was a gateway at Bishop Auckland palace for Richard Trevor, Bishop of Durham, whose family owned Glynde Place.
Lit: D Harbron: Sir Thomas Robinson Architect: 1700-1770.  The Modern Proteus, AR 80 (1936) pp167-70; M McCarthy: Sir Thomas Robinson, an Original English Palladian, Architectura, Munich 10/1(1980) pp38-57; BAL Biog file
Designed: Glynde (1763-65)
Extended: Laughton (1764-65) (attr)

W Robinson
William Robinson (c1720-75) was born the son of a gardener in Durham and moved to London, where he held public positions as architect and surveyor, including clerk of the works at Greenwich Hospital.  The public buildings he designed were Palladian in style, but in other respects he was a pioneer in the gothic style – he was employed by Horace Walpole (1717-97) at Strawberry Hill and designed at least one gothic church (Stone, Staffordshire).
Lit: DNB
Extended: Laughton (1764-65) (attr)

P A Robson
Philip Appleby Robson (1871-1951) was articled to his father Edward Robert Robson (1836-1917), famed as the first architect to the London School Board from 1870, and joined J L Pearson’s office in c1890.  He was in private practice in Victoria Embankment, Westminster by about 1898, when he designed a school in Mayfair, and remained in that area until 1939, though at least between 1919 and 1922 he also had an address in Manchester (CCL), describing himself in that publication as an architect and designer.  He lived near East Grinstead, where from 1905 there was a branch of his practice – as also in Tunbridge Wells.  He is known to have had two partners – from 1905-10 one Worthington and from 1928-32 F G Percy, neither of them more fully identifiable; however, from 1916 to 1923 he is listed at one of his addresses on Victoria Embankment in KD/L as ‘P A Robson and Partner’, so either the above dates are incorrect or there was another, unrecorded partner.  According to his obituary, he designed two churches in south east London, one of them St Andrew, Catford, and civic buildings, including some at Eastbourne, notably the public library (since replaced).  He also wrote about architecture, notably the volume in the Bell’s Cathedrals Series about St David’s (1901).
Lit: BAL Biog file; Obit: RIBAJ (April 1952) p230
Restored: Battle (nd)
Fittings: East Grinstead, – St Mary, lectern and font; Selsey, – St Peter (unspecified)

—- Roelant
From the name, this early C17 glazier, known only from a single reference at Stopham, was probably Flemish in origin.  He is likely to have been based in London or Southwark, where a number of glassmakers of Flemish ancestry were active in the early C17.
Glass: Stopham

H C Rogers
Henry Cornwallis Rogers (1865-1935) was born in Cornwall, but moved to London and joined the office of Sir Ernest George (1839-1922) and Harold Ainsworth Peto (1854-1933) in 1886.  By 1891 he was living alone in Knightsbridge and later became partner of C B Bone and F A Coles. According to most records he died in 1929, but the most recent research suggests that this year the partnership ended.  In the following year he went to Utah, USA and died in Colorado.
Lit: BAL Biog file
Altered: Brighton and Hove, – St John Baptist, Palmeira Square, Hove (1906-07)

M Rogers

Mark Rogers (1848-1933) was a woodcarver, who was born in Hoxton, London and lived at various places around the capital.  The circumstances of his training are unknown though he had a long career; his final address from 1911 at the latest was 74 Grandison Road, Clapham Common, which in 1920 he was still using for business purposes (CCL).
Fitting: Brighton, – St Martin, pulpit panels

W Rogerson
William Rogerson had a yard in Gerrard Street, Soho, where he can be found from c1794, the date of his earliest known work, until his bankruptcy in 1800.  Only five works are known for certain, but these are widely scattered, including one at Bridgetown, Barbados.
Memorial: Lewes, – St Thomas à Becket

W H Romayne-Walker                      W H Romaine-Walker
William Henry Romayne-Walker (1854-1940) (his spelling of his name is inconsistent – according to his BAL Biog file he preferred to use a Y, but he appears in KD/L (for which he had presumably provided the information) with an I and the name is thus found in other contemporary records), was articled to G E Street after school at Lancing.  Some of his earliest buildings were mission halls, but he became a well known society architect, designing mostly country houses and public buildings, including extensions to the Tate Gallery and British Museum for Lord Duveen (1869-1939) in a pompous classical style that recalls contemporary work in the USA.  His partners or collaborators included in 1880 J T Hanson and the otherwise unidentified A W Tanner who is first found in 1883 and who is said to have restored Hampreston church, Dorset in 1896-97 jointly with Romayne-Walker, though they are not otherwise found together after 1891.  Later partners included from 1905 to 1909 Francis Walter Besant (1862-1936?) and from 1911 Gilbert Henry Jenkins (1875-1957).  From 1919 to at least 1924 the address of the practice was 4 Old Bond Street (KD/L).  Romayne-Walker took great care over the decoration of the houses he designed and most of his church work consisted of schemes of decoration.  He owned a house at Mayfield and died at St Leonards.
Lit:  BAL Biog file
Designed: South Lancing (1880 – with J T Hanson – not built)
Restored/altered: Brighton and Hove, – St Michael (1914); Hastings, – All Saints (nd); – Holy Trinity (1890-92)
Fitting: Lodsworth, reredos

M E A Rope
Margaret Edith (Aldrich) Rope (1891-1988) came from Kesgrave, Suffolk and her family came from a prosperous farming background.  Not only was the family artistic, but the artists were women, including Ellen Mary Rope (1855-1934), a sculptor.  They were also Roman Catholics and the Catholic church at Kesgrave, built as a memorial to a member of the family killed in the crash in 1931 of the airship R101, contains a wide selection of work by members of the family.   M E A Rope herself moved to London in 1911 and  studied at the Chelsea and Central Schools of Art.  There, she also encountered Alfred Drury, under whom she studied glass making at the Glass House (see under Lowndes and Drury).  This enabled her to meet some of the leading stained glass artists of the day, notably W Geddes who had a considerable effect on her work.  Her cousin, Margaret Agnes Rope (1882-1953), already had a studio at the Glass House and was assisted by her younger cousin almost from her first arrival in London.  Margaret Agnes became a Carmelite nun in 1923, though she continued to design stained glass and her cousin took over her studio at the Glass House.  The latter was also a painter and added the ‘Aldrich’ (her mother’s maiden name) to differentiate herself from her cousin.  She belonged to the group of glass makers in Putney, who were influenced by C Whall.  She lived successively at three addresses in Deodar Road, Putney where surprising number of glass-makers lived at the time, many of them followers or associates of Whall.  One flat where she lived while there belonged to C Townsend and J Howson, with whom she spent part of World War II at Storrington, West Sussex.  In later life she shared a kiln with R de Montmorency and was assisted by her former pupil, C Dawson.
Source: www.arthur.rope.clara.net
Glass: Bolney

F Rosier

Frank Rosier (1867-1946) was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, the son of a domestic servant, who in 1881 had the unpromising occupation of errand boy and even in 1891 had not moved from his native town, though he then described himself as a boot and shoemaker.   There is no likely reference to him in 1901, but by 1909 he is listed (KD) as sub-postmaster of Frant and the 1911 census gives a second occupation of carver.  He still held both posts in 1915 (KD) but thereafter he seems to have worked as a carver only.  By 1931 the business was sufficiently prosperous to have a telephone, at around the same time that Arthur Mee (p168) visited ‘the busy workshop’.  Rosier’s career is thus hard to follow and in particular it is hard to see how and where he learned woodcarving to a high standard, though his choice of Frant to live in was probably determined by his marriage to a wife who came from Wadhurst.   His work is characterised by elaborate gothic detail, the carving of which is often shallow.  Rosier appears to have been chiefly an artisan, but it is possible that in carrying out the work of others, he added his own embellishments (see under Burwash for a possible instance).  The works listed below can only be a fraction of what he produced but they do suggest he worked in a small geographical area.
Fittings: Burwash, screen and stalls (possibly); Frant, choir stalls and reredos; Mayfield, parclose; Ticehurst, screen; Wadhurst, altar.

J Ross
Jane Ross (b1931) was the maiden name of J Gray.
Glass: Framfield; Sullington; Wivelsfield

D G Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), the son of an Italian refugee and born in London, studied at the RA Schools.  He was one of the original members of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, though the association did not last long.  Thereafter he became best known as a painter of often voluptuous and highly distinctive women.  He was also a poet and was associated with W Morris, designing some glass for his company in its first years.  However, he made little effort to conceal his disdain for the medium and within a short time had ceased to produce designs since his paintings earned more money.
Lit: A C Sewter: D G Rossetti’s Designs for Stained Glass, JSMGP 13/2 pp419-24
Glass: Brighton and Hove, – Annunciation; – St Michael (both designed for Morris and Co)

J C F Rossi
John Charles Felix Rossi (1762-1839) was born in Nottingham of an Italian father.  He found his way to London, where he studied under Giovanni Battista Locatelli (1735-1805), an Italian sculptor settled there, before entering the RA Schools in 1781.  Starting in 1785 he spent three years in Rome.  After his return he seems to have had something of a crisis of confidence, during which he mostly modelled figures for a clock-maker and produced many designs for Mrs E Coade to make in her ‘stone’ – he even attempted to produce something similar.  By 1798 he was sufficiently well regarded to be elected ARA, followed in 1802 by advancement to RA.  During the same period he produced several large-scale works of public sculpture, including some at St Paul’s.  In later life Rossi experienced perennial financial problems, which continued until he retired in 1835.
Memorials: East Grinstead, – St Swithun; Tillington

S Roth                              Roth and Partners
A Chichester practice, which emerged from a partnership between H Sherwood and Stanley Henry James Roth (1907-93) who were together in West Pallant, Chichester by 1930.  During this period Roth was involved on his own in at least two housing projects in Oxfordshire and by 1951 the practice had become known as Stanley Roth, Tetley and Felce, though Sherwood did not end all links until about 1958; until at least then it had a second address at 60 West Street, Brighton (KD).  Tetley was P I D Tetley (PT), who worked with Roth on several churches.  After Sherwood’s final withdrawal the practice became known as Roth and Partners and was based in Chichester only.  Like Sherwood, Roth designed churches and worked on them, but such work fell increasingly to G Claridge (GC).  He joined the practice at the age of 18 and became a partner in 1964, though Roth was still active in 1970, when he signed the ICBS completion certificate for works at Sutton.  T E Roberts (see this section above) was a member of the firm in the 1970s.
Designed: Crawley, – St Richard, Three Bridges (1995-96 – GC)
Repaired/adapted and extended:
Chichester, – St Pancras (c1990); – St Paul (1949 by Roth – not executed; 1992-93 extension by GC); Clapham (1951 and 1969-71 – GC); Easebourne (1952-53); East Lavant (1950 and 1961); East Preston (1982); Felpham (1938-39); Itchingfield (1952); Lyminster (1949-50); Madehurst (1957 – with PT); Middleton (1977-78 – GC); Mid Lavant (1981 – GC); Pagham (1995 – GC); Patching (1969 – GC); Portslade, – St Andrew (1952-54); – St Nicholas (1957 onwards – with PT); Rustington (1953 – GC); Southwater (1952); Sutton (1970 – GC); West Thorney (1975); Worth (1987-88 – GC); Worthing, – St Symphorian, Durrington (1961-62)

L F Roubiliac
Louis François Roubiliac (1705?-1762) was born in Lyon, France and is described by Ingrid Roscoe (p1062) as ‘the outstanding sculptor of his age’.  He probably received part of his early training in Dresden, then a major centre of baroque sculpture and subsequently at the Académie Royale in Paris.  By 1730 he had moved to London, though the reasons for this are unclear.  Most French artists and craftsmen in Britain at this time were Huguenots but though Roubiliac had links with London Huguenots, it is not known whether he was already of that persuasion.  Initially he worked for two established London masters, T Carter the elder and H Cheere but within five years he was working independently.  He was initially renowned for his busts and only in the 1740s did he start to produce monuments.  He was equally successful in this field but in later life his health gave way and he died leaving considerable debts.
Memorial: Racton (attr)

E C Rouse
Edward Clive Rouse (1901-97) was the best known mid-C20 restorer of wall-paintings, about which he also wrote.  He trained as an artist at the St Martin’s School of Art and worked in his earlier career with E W Tristram.   Following Tristram’s methods he made careful watercolour copies of the paintings on which he worked, but he played a prominent part in the move in the 1950s away from the heavy wax preservatives favoured by Tristram and devised methods of removing them.  Though he lived in Buckinghamshire, he was a member of the Chichester Diocesan Advisory Committee.
Obit: The Times, 8 Aug 1997
Restored: Battle, wall paintings

H Rouw
Henry Rouw (1779/80-1855) is said to have been a wax modeller and painter, mainly of portraits, as well as a sculptor, and was the brother of P Rouw the younger (see immediately below).  At the time of his death he was living in Brentford, Middlesex.
Memorial: Brightling

P Rouw
Peter Rouw the younger (1770-1852) was the elder brother of Henry Rouw (see immediately above) – their father, Peter the elder, was also a sculptor.  Peter the younger entered the RA Schools in 1788 and exhibited at the RA until 1838.  He was a friend of J Nollekens and designed many monuments and medals.  He had an address in Norton Street, Fitzroy Square.  In later life he lost the sight of one eye and experienced financial problems.
Memorials: Brightling; Salehurst; Worth (3)

N Rowe
Nicholas Rowe is an architect with an interest in churches who was associated with Gould and Co of London and Haywards Heath when he worked on Scaynes Hill church.   He now has an independent practice in Cuckfield.
Architectural supervision: Staplefield (2009-10)
Extended: Scaynes Hill (2011-14 for Gould and Co)

Royal Bavarian Glass Painting Manufactory
The manufactory was established in 1827 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria (reigned 1825-48) and thus enjoyed state support. It was widely respected above all in the 1840s for the technical quality of its glass. Its philosophy of design derived from some of the best known German painters of the period, particularly the Nazarene school of painters, one of whom, Heinrich Hess, was the first artistic director. Such an artistic direction meant that though greatly admired in Germany, notably the glass installed in Cologne cathedral, its lack of mediaevalism, pictorial approach and dark, intense colours were out of line with British taste by the 1850s and it seemingly found it hard to adapt its approach, so its glass in Britain is rare. The manufactory remained in being for the rest of the C19 and had an influential part in setting up a tradition of glass-making in Germany in Bavaria and beyond. This is best represented in Britain by the firm of Mayer and Co.
Glass: Edburton; Petworth (attr)

H E Rumble
Henry Ewan (or Evan or Euean) Rumble (1834-1902) was the son of an architect and was born at Marlow.  He practised briefly in London in 1858 and was present there again in 1874 (KD/L), though he lived and worked otherwise at Eastbourne, the area in which most of his work is to be found.  His address there was at 27 Hyde Gardens.  However,  in 1863 his address was in Newbury when the Council of the RIBA approved his candidature as an Associate, though for reasons unknown he was never elected.  His son, Harry (b 1866/67), also an architect, emigrated to Australia.
Lit: BAL Biog file
Designed: Eastbourne, – St John Meads (1868-69 – rebuilt)
Restored: Alfriston (1875 and 1876); Chichester, – St Bartholomew (1878 – probably not carried out); Hailsham (1869-76); Jevington (1873); Westdean (E) (1878); Westham (1873)

Sir H G Rushbury
Sir Henry George Rushbury (1889-1968) was born near Birmingham, where he studied at the Municipal School of Art under Henry Payne (1868-1940), briefly a pupil of C Whall at the Royal College of Art, after which he became Payne’s assistant at his studio in the Cotswolds, working both on designs for stained glass and murals.  Rushbury went to London in 1912, the year of his earliest recorded glass at Hawerby, Lincolnshire.  In London, he learned etching and also became known as an accomplished watercolourist and draughtsman.  He was a war artist in both world wars and exhibited frequently at the RA – he became a Royal Academician in 1936, one of the few at the time to concentrate on graphics.  With his particular skills he was a fine illustrator of books, mostly topographical in nature.  He lived for much of the time in Chelsea, where he was a pillar of the artistic community, though he died at Lewes, where he also had a house.
Lit: DNB; Obit: The Times 6 July 1968
Glass: Felpham

J Rushbury
Julia Rushbury (b1930) is the daughter of Sir H Rushbury (see immediately above) and a painter, who trained under H Feibusch and subsequently at the RA Schools.  She married a fellow painter, Theo Ramos (b1928) who is of Spanish descent and their son, Adrian, is also an artist.  Her style is figurative and her work has included murals.  She lives in Lewes.
Paintings: Scaynes Hill

T H Rushforth
Thomas Henry Rushforth (1827-1908) was born in or near Manchester, but was living in London by 1849, when he first exhibited at the RA.  On the evidence of the designs he submitted, as described in Graves, he specialised in churches, but their dates, confirmed by ICBS records, suggest that he produced most such works during the earlier part of his career, which ended with his resignation from the RIBA in 1869.  He then worked with C L Luck, designing mostly workhouses and other utilitarian buildings, though he did some work on his own; in 1883 his office was at 12 Regent Street (BA 19 2 February 1883 p i).  Census returns suggest he spent much of his later years back in the north with his brothers-in-law John and William Baldwin, worsted manufacturers.  In 1881, he was visiting John in Elland, Yorkshire, in 1891 he was retired and sharing a house with William in North Meol near Southport and in 1901 they were both back in Yorkshire at Halifax.  Probably significantly, one of his very few late churches (1880-82) at West Vale is just outside Halifax.  This was consistent with his earlier churches in displaying unusual quirks of style; in this case it is almost all in the neo-Norman style, which is almost unheard of at the date.
Designed: Tidebrook (1855-56)

H T Rushton
Henry Theodore Rushton (1913-98) was the son of T J Rushton (see immediately below), whose practice he joined and continued until his own death.  He was diocesan surveyor for Chelmsford, where he was particularly active in Southend-on-Sea..
Repaired: Fernhurst (1958-60 with father)

T J Rushton
Thomas Johnson Rushton (1878-1966) worked with Sir C Nicholson from 1927, though he may not have become a formal partner until 1940.  In the interim he was responsible for several commissions undertaken by the practice, including the chapel of Queen Margaret School, Scarborough in 1932, for the Woodard Corporation.  He carried on the practice after Nicholson’s death in 1949, at its former office in Lincoln’s Inn.  He was joined by his son, H T Rushton (see immediately above) and the two worked closely.  The father became diocesan surveyor for Winchester and designed churches and fittings for them extensively.  The practice also had offices in Grimsby, Lincolnshire and Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Lit: BAL Biog file
Repaired: Fernhurst (1958-60 with son)

G M Russell
The Rev George Munro Russell (1848-1927) was Vicar of Upper Dicker from 1894-1924.  He was born at Dorking, Surrey and went, probably as a missionary, to South Africa where he was ordained deacon in 1877.  Possibly during this time he acquired his skill in woodworking; as his father was a professor of music who had been prosperous enough to send his son to a small boarding school in Ewell (which he was attending in 1861), it seems, therefore, unlikely that he would have learned it as a trade in his youth.  On return to England he became initially curate of Beddingham with Firle after being ordained priest in 1891.  He retired to Tunbridge Wells, where he died.
Fittings: Upper Dicker, porch, screen and pulpit

R Rutherford
Rosemary Rutherford (1912-72) was born in Broomfield, Essex, the daughter of the rector.  She studied painting and drawing, as well as stained glass before settling in Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk.  This no doubt explains why most of her work is to be found in Eastern England, including the parish church of her native place.  Some of her work is on a scale seldom found in mid-C20 glass, with effective use of leading and glowing colours.
Glass: Pevensey Bay.

A H Rydon
Arthur Hope Rydon (1859-1930) was born in London, the son of a landowner, who by 1881 was living in Brighton.  He trained as a solicitor and in 1891 he was living in London where he probably practised.  He also owned land in the Lindfield area and died there.  He carved the screen and pulpit at Scaynes Hill, then in the parish of Lindfield, but it is not known how he acquired his skills or whether he also designed them.
Woodwork: Scaynes Hill, screen and pulpit

J M Rysbrack
John Michael Rysbrack (always called Michael) (1694-1770) was born in Antwerp, the son of a landscape artist who had spent some years in England in the 1670s.  The son trained and worked in his birthplace before coming to London in 1720, where he established his studio in Vere Street and became a leading member of the artistic community, being particularly close to the architect James Gibbs.  Unlike many of his contemporaries, he seems never to have visited Italy.  His Netherlandish training showed itself in a liking for work in low relief and his use of terra cotta was widely admired.  In his prime in the 1730s he was the best known sculptor in England, working with stricter Palladian architects like Burlington and William Kent as well as Gibbs, and produced some of the grandest monuments of the age.  However, though he sought in the 1750s to adapt to the neo-classical style favoured by Robert Adam, by his retirement around 1765 he was seen as old-fashioned.  He produced statues, busts and memorials in large quantities and also architectural work such as fireplaces.
Lit: K Eustace: Michael Rysbrack, 1694-1770, Bristol, 1982; M Webb: Michael Rysbrack, Sculptor, 1954
Memorials: Racton (bust only – attr); Warbleton (attr); West Grinstead