J B Tansley
John Beaumont Tansley (1864-1955) was a pupil of J G Gibbins and studied at Brighton School of Art. He subsequently lived in Purley, Surrey, before moving first to Eastbourne and then to Byfleet, Surrey. He was in practice in London, where his partner was Henry Bell Measures (1862-1940) a fellow student in Brighton and pupil and assistant of A Loader. Tansley married Measures’s sister and in 1911 both architects were living in Byfleet and working for the War Office (from 1910 and 1925 in the case of Tansley). His practice consisted otherwise mainly of banks and housing.
Lit: BAL Biog file
Designed: Jarvis Brook (1905)
Sir W Tapper
Sir Walter John Tapper (1861-1935) was born in Bovey Tracey, Devon, the son of a builder, and went to work for a local architect, Joseph William Rowell of Newton Abbot. Around 1881 he moved to London and after a brief period as an assistant in the office of Basil Champneys (1842-1935) joined that of G F Bodley and T Garner, becoming in due course their chief assistant and office manager. He remained there until 1900 since he had a young family and was unwilling to take the financial risk of starting his own practice. When he did so he went into partnership with one J L Davenport, of whom little is known; later he had a second partner, known only as Reynolds. The practice designed simplified gothic churches of an Anglo-Catholic nature, often in brick, and country houses. Tapper also designed church fittings, was a consultant architect to the ICBS and a member of the Art Workers Guild, as well as surveyor to Westminster Abbey and architect to York minster (in succession to Bodley) and Lincoln cathedral. In later life he was in partnership with his son Michael John Tapper (1886-1963) and became President of the RIBA as well as an RA shortly before his death. By way of contrast, in the late 1920s he was for some years also active in design work for the Gas Light and Coke Company in London.
Lit: BAL Biog file; Obit: The Times 23 Sept 1935
Restored/repaired: Bexhill, – St Peter (1908); Brighton and Hove, – St Bartholomew (nd); St Helen, Hangleton (1909); – St Patrick, Hove (nd); – St Stephen (1909); East Grinstead, – St Swithun (1930)
Fittings: Brighton and Hove, – St Patrick, Hove, font; – St Thomas, altars and tester; Westham, restored screen
S J Tatchell
Sydney Joseph Tatchell (1877-1965) was articled to an architect recorded as T H Watson, who was probably Thomas Henry Watson (1839-1913). Tatchell had a practice in London from 1905 (KD/L), designing many banks and offices, as well as housing, mostly in St Marylebone, especially Harley Street. From 1920 to 1940 he was a partner of G C Wilson and was also involved with Edward Herbert Bourchier (1856-1938), whose chief assistant had previously been C H Murray. Tatchell was Surveyor of Christ’s Hospital at Horsham, where he designed some buildings, and he also worked at Eastbourne College. A number of buildings in London by him, like most of his work in a conservative Mostly neo-Georgian idiom, survived the bombs. He was joined by his son Rodney Fleetwood Tatchell (1909-95) and the practice became known as Sydney Tatchell, Son and Partner, continuing for some time after his death. In the period after World War II, both worked on several buildings in Windsor Great Park, still in an unobtrusive neo-Georgian style.
Lit: BAL Biog file
Designed (consultant): Eastbourne, – St Elisabeth (1935-38 with G C Wilson)
D B Taunton
Donald Battershill Taunton (1885-1965) was born on the edge of Birmingham and in 1901 is described as an architect’s pupil. However, he must soon have changed to stained glass making, in which he trained in J Hardman and Co’s studios in the city, as well as at Birmingham College of Art. He was a partner in Hardman’s by 1919 and was their chief designer from 1935 to 1964, working in a highly conservative style. He was largely responsible for the running of the company’s London branch.
For works see under J Hardman and Co
A Taylor
Andrew P Taylor (b1950) is South African by birth and studied painting at Cardiff. He worked as a scenery painter and trained in stained glass, which he makes and designs. He was briefly at Chapel Studio and then set up a studio at Littleton Parnell, near Devizes in 1989.
Glass: Rottingdean
B Taylor
Bryan Taylor restored the remote downland church of Up Waltham in 1962-63 but no further record that is likely to refer to an architect of this name and date has been found.
Restored: Up Waltham (1962-63)
G Taylor
For George Taylor, see his partner J Webber.
J M Taylor
James Medland Taylor (1834-1909) was born in Essex and articled to his uncle, John Medland, County Surveyor of Gloucestershire. He then worked in S S Teulon’s (see this section below) office before going into practice in Manchester in 1860, where he entered into partnership for a time with his younger brother Henry (1837-1916) and where he remained for the rest of his life. Most of his buildings are to be found in Lancashire and Cheshire or were in some way linked with one of these counties.
Lit: BAL Biog file; Obit: The Builder 96 pp710-11
Altered: East Hoathly (1884 (attr) and 1893)
J H Taylor
John Henry Taylor (1791/92-1867) was an architect of 22 Parliament Street, London and Queen Street in the City, who became an Associate of the newly founded Institute of British Architects in 1835 and in 1861 was District Surveyor for Lambeth. Among his work were churches and chapels, a bank and a lunatic asylum. He also designed some major railway stations in Lincolnshire, including Lincoln and Stamford in conjunction with his eldest son, who was one of three sons who became architects. This was John S Taylor (1818-84) and in 1837 he exhibited at the RA a drawing of Herstmonceux, though he is not known to have had any link with Sussex. He pioneered the design of single-storey housing which became known as bungalows because they were assumed, probably erroneously, to derive from such housing in India and is said (Colvin 4th edition p1022) to have taken over his father’s practice. Another, Arthur Edmund Taylor (1823/24-1892), shared his father’s offices at 22 Parliament Street and Basinghall Street in 1859-60, whilst the youngest, Herbert Wilford Taylor (1838-1906), was at 22 Parliament Street and 14 Queen Street in 1866. He is recorded in 1861 and 1871 as living in Hastings, where he was probably partner of the otherwise unrecorded John Wimble; the firm of Wimble and Taylor did much non-church work in Sussex. However, by 1881 he was living alone as a boarder in Southwell, Nottinghamshire and he was to die in Faversham, Kent.
Lit: BAL Biog file; A Brown: What’s in a Name? The Origin of the British Bungalow, The Victorian 53 (November 2016) pp12-16
Restored: Lindfield (1845-49 or 1848-50)
M Taylor
(Josephine) Majella Taylor is a glass engraver. who trained at Hammersmith College of Art and lives and works in Chichester. She has written about the craft of engraving and her work is to be found in both churches and other buildings. She also engraves smaller objects.
Glass: Chichester, – St Andrew Oxmarket
Sir R Taylor
Sir Robert Taylor (1714-88) was the son of a London mason of the same name and became a pupil of Sir H Cheere. After his father died, he was found to have been bankrupt and perhaps as a consequence, for the rest of his life the son maintained a remarkable level of work. At first he was a mason and statuary, producing public sculptures and monuments, including some in Westminster Abbey. Increasingly he turned to architecture, much of it domestic, both country villas and town houses. In both cases he used his extensive city contacts, which were enhanced by his appointment as surveyor to the Bank of England. In this capacity he designed much of the bank’s premises, which were to be more closely associated with Sir John Soane (1753-1837) and were pulled down in the 1930s.
Lit: DNB
Memorials: Eastbourne, – St Mary (attr); Rotherfield (attr); Worth
W G Taylor
William George Taylor (1822-97) worked for and afterwards took over M O’Connor, glass makers of 4 Berners Street, London. The dates of these developments are by no means clear, though it is known that the firm traded initially as O’Connor and Taylor. and there is a belated use of this form as late as 1899. There are several instances of the use of the signature Taylor and O’Connor mostly in the 1870s (that at Honingham, Norfolk is unlikely to date from as early as the 1850s, as has been suggested), but this form is not found after about 1880 and it seems certain that by 1883 the firm, whilst sometimes still referring to itself as ‘Late O’Connor’, generally used only his own name. In 1902 it became Taylor and Clifton (the identity of the latter is not known) at the same address, but the final mention, for one year only (1915), is at Mortimer Street (KD/L), which is not far away. Taylor was a Londoner by birth and in his later years lived in Hampstead.
For the glass done while he headed the firm, see under M O’Connor
J Teasdale
James Teasdale was an architect who was at an undetermined date born in Cumberland (Colvin 4th ed p1031) on the estates of the 11th Duke of Norfolk. He was trained at the Duke’s expense and worked for him subsequently on the first rebuilding of Arundel Castle, for which in large measure the Duke was his own architect. There are references to him receiving a salary of £100 (a fair sum for the time) in the Duke’s accounts for 1800 and works by him down to 1820 can be found with certainty. He was almost certainly the James Teasdale who worked on Steyning church in 1831 who in turn must be identical with a surveyor of that name in Arundel in 1839 (Robson’s Commercial Directory). A strong argument in favour of his involvement in the work at Steyning is that he would have been familiar with the arcades there, which were taken as a model for some of the work of the period at Arundel (B 6 p330). There is no one of the name and location in the 1841 census, though Henry Teasdale, a butcher, might be connected; even more speculatively so might another James (b1799/1800), variously described as a bricklayer, a builder and a broker in Haslemere, Surrey between 1841 and 1871 (KD/Surrey). There is scope for confusion with his brother John, a sculptor of similar background whose dates are given by I Roscoe (p1228) as 1777-c1809, though the date of birth is implausibly late as he had a son, another John and also a sculptor, who was admitted the RA Schools in 1801 when he was probably close to 20 in age. Both John Teasdales worked at Arundel castle and the latest mention of either was in 1809, when both are named specifically as working on Henry VII’s chapel, Westminster (I Roscoe etc). Finally, a J Teasdale who designed the rectory at Woodford, Northamptonshire could be the same.
(My thanks to Sarah Leigh for the information about James Teasdale and Arundel).
Restored: Parham, upper tower and possibly other work (1800 onwards – attr); Steyning (1831)
J Ternouth
John Ternouth (1795-1849) was born the son of a stonemason at Andover and trained at the RA Schools under J Flaxman. He subsequently worked closely with Sir F Chantrey, whilst building up a reputation on his own account. He was a prolific sculptor, whose work includes public statues and reliefs, such as those at Buckingham Palace and one on Nelson’s Column, which were widely praised. From an early age he exhibited at the RA, particularly portrait busts. He also produced rather conventional monuments. His successive addresses in the better parts of London included 9 Lower Belgrave Place.
Memorials: Brighton and Hove, – St Andrew, Waterloo Street, Hove
P I D Tetley
Patrick Ivor Delavel Tetley (1917-1990) appears as an architect in Brighton between 1955 and 1976. Initially he was in partnership with S Roth (SR) and together they worked on a number of churches. He then appears to have spent some years on his own at an address in West Street, Brighton, before joining R H and R W Clutton, presumably the large firm of estate agents, surveyors etc of that name. This may explain why Tetley lived for some time at East Grinstead, where Clutton’s had a branch, though by 1969 he was living in Plumpton, where he seems to have had his main residence; curiously, in the directory entry for that year only he is described as Lieutenant Colonel, presumably in the Territorial Army. Tetley is known to have designed at least one house in Sussex which was featured in Country Life.
Repaired: Framfield (1976-77); Madehurst (1957 – with SR); Portslade, – St Nicholas (1957 onwards – with SR)
M B Teulon
Maurice Beveridge Teulon (1853-97) was the youngest son of S S Teulon (see this section immediately below), and he went to sea as a young man. Surprisingly, in his father’s will, drawn up in 1869, he was already described as an architect and surveyor, though he would seem to have been remarkably young already to have had such a major career-change. His father at that time intended him to inherit the practice, but changed his mind after the son was involved in what his father viewed as malpractice. According to Alan Teulon, horseplay among the juniors in his father’s office resulted in a cat being thrown that hit an important client of the practice. Despite this, the son was involved in a short-lived and unsuccessful attempt to perpetuate the practice, but he does not appear in the 1881 census and the next reference is in 1887, as an architect and surveyor in Crowborough (KD), where he is known to have designed his own residence. He was still listed in 1899 with a partner, A Colpoys Wood (KD), though he had died two years earlier in Worthing, when the grant of probate describes him as retired. The practice was still called Teulon and Wood in 1902, but by 1909 was known only by Wood’s name.
Extended: Crowborough (1895)
Source: A E Teulon: The Life and Work of Samuel Sanders Teulon, Victorian Architect, Northampton, 2009
[I am also indebted to Alan Teulon himself for much of the above information].
S S Teulon
Samuel Sanders Teulon (1812-73) was of Huguenot ancestry (from the Cevennes) and was born in Greenwich. After the RA Schools, where in addition to the study of architecture he became a proficient draughtsman, he was a pupil of George Legg (1799-1882) and George Porter (1796-1856). Alan Teulon suggests that his initial interest in architecture may have stemmed from his father’s acquaintance with J Kay. Before going into independent practice in 1838, he travelled on the continent with his life-time friend and fellow evangelical sympathiser, E Christian. His early practice concentrated on country houses, schools and parsonages but from 1847 he became in addition a leading architect of churches, mostly evangelical in their outlook. During this phase of his career Teulon worked also for the Crown and Royal estates, the latter including projects at both Windsor and Sandringham. His evangelical sympathies did not prevent him from being a member of the Ecclesiological Society and he was in addition related to the Tractarian Wagners of Brighton (probably because one of his ancestors was involved in the hat trade, as were the Wagners), though he never worked for them. He developed a sometimes highly idiosyncratic treatment of gothic; as a consequence, he was one of the last major Victorian architects to be taken seriously in the later C20, although his interest in new materials, including structural ironwork, might have suggested otherwise. His approach to the gothic style is particularly evident in his domestic works and was much criticised even in his lifetime, as were several practical aspects of his churches, notably his continued use of galleries, which flowed from his own Low Church sympathies and those of many of his clients.
Lit: M Saunders: The Churches of S S Teulon, 1982; A E Teulon: The Life and work of Samuel Sanders Teulon, Victorian Architect, 2009; DNB
Designed: Forestside (1852-56 – attr, doubtful); Hastings, – Holy Trinity (1856-59); – St James (1850 – ?unexecuted); – St John, Upper Maze Hill (1865 – destroyed – doubtful); Netherfield (1854-56); Rye Harbour (1848-50 – completed to a different plan)
Restored/extended: Angmering (1852-53); Eastbourne, – Holy Trinity (1852 – not carried out); Funtington (1858-59 – attr, wrong); Horsham, – St Mary (1860-65); Icklesham (1848-52); Staplefield (1859)
W M Teulon
William Milford Teulon (1823-1900) was the brother of S S Teulon (see immediately above). He worked mainly in the St Pancras area of London and took an interest in the preservation of the City churches, then under threat, though he also designed and altered houses. Outside London he worked on several churches in South and West Yorkshire. His partner was E E Cronk, with whom he shared offices in Wimpole Street, London and Sevenoaks, Kent. He was by no means as prolific as his brother and retired early in 1883, after an unhappy second marriage. He died at Leamington Spa after separating from his wife.
Lit: BAL Biog file
Rebuilt: Crowhurst (1856)
J Theakston
Joseph Theakston (1772-1842) was born in York, where he was apprenticed before moving to London and becoming an assistant to J Bacon senior (see under J Bacon junior) and subsequently to J Flaxman and E H Baily. From these he moved to the workshop of Sir F Chantrey, for whom he worked until Chantrey died. At the same time he built up his own practice, designing monuments and statues as well as architectural sculpture. The last included work for the new Buckingham Palace.
Memorials: Wartling; Wiston
Thomas of Witney Thomas Witney
Thomas of Witney (fl1292-1342), also known as Thomas Witney, first appears in 1292 when he was working on St Stephen’s chapel, Westminster as a fully trained mason, though still fairly junior. He had probably been trained at Oxford, where the main building project at the time was the chapel of Merton college – there is stylistic evidence to suggest that Thomas was still involved with this as late as 1330-32. More certainly, by 1311 Thomas was working on Winchester cathedral – John Harvey (p339) suggests as master mason – and his long association with Exeter cathedral started in 1313, where the last recorded payment to him was in 1342. During this time he is known to have worked on other projects; his presence at Wells cathedral is documented and, less certainly as the attribution is stylistic, he may have worked at Malmesbury abbey. He appears also to have had a continuing association with Winchester. John Harvey (p341) assesses him as a major influence on the architecture of his time and one of the first masons to have a large-scale freelance practice.
Worked on: Winchelsea (attr)
C Thomas
Cecil Walter Thomas (1885-1976) trained first as a gem-cutter in his father’s business and then at the Slade and RA Schools, before taking up sculpture. He was a member and later master of the Art Workers Guild and described himself as an ‘occasional painter’. Amongst the sculpture he produced were several recumbent effigies elsewhere like that at Boxgrove, which look back to an earlier date. Most enduring were his designs for the British coinage of George V and VI and the pre-decimal coins of Elizabeth II. He also designed coins for various countries in the Empire, as well as seals. The combination of sculpture with the craft of engraving in his work is what no doubt drew him to the Art Workers Guild.
Obit: The Times 20 Sept 1976
Memorial: Boxgrove
J A Thomas
John Alick Thomas (1854-1940) was the partner of R O Whitfield. Prior to that he had been a pupil of W Slater and R H Carpenter and, in what was in effect the same practice, later became B Ingelow’s assistant. From 1878 to 1899 he and Whitfield had their office at 20 Cockspur Street, but after Whitfield died in 1900 Thomas, who was significantly younger and the junior partner, moved to 60 Haymarket. For the most part, their practice did domestic work and Thomas probably took the lead in building churches. He is known to have designed several in the Surrey suburbs where he lived and was also responsible for the church of Emmanuel, West Hampstead (church website), where he donated a window in memory of Whitfield, whose parish church it was.
Designed: Crowborough, – All Saints (1881-83 – with Whitfield – altered and extended, but altered twice later).
H Thompson
Harold Thompson is known to have designed glass for the Chichester Cathedral Works Organisation between 1964 and 1986, though he lived at Petersfield, Hampshire. Much of his glass is in a pictorial idiom, but no details about his training or other career are known.
Glass: East Lavington; Southwater
M G Thompson
Margaret Grace (known as Peggy) Thompson (1909-2007), though born in London, lived and later worked in the same house at Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex from about 1921 until well into her 90s – for professional purposes she called it Cranford Studios. She trained at the Central School of Art and her interests extended to theatrical costumery; it is likely that she produced designs for the Old Vic under Lilian Baylis (1874-1937). In the field of stained glass Thompson was at her most active during the years after World War II and for a period she was also chief designer for Lowndes and Drury, though given the rather diffuse structure of that company, the position may not have had the same significance as elsewhere. She should not be confused with Marguerite Douglas Thompson, who lived and worked in Sussex, notably at Eastbourne.
My thanks to Tony Garrett, Peggy Thompson’s executor, for most of the above information.
Glass: Hastings, – St John, Upper Maze Hill; Jevington
R Thompson
Robert Thompson (1876-1955) was the son of the village carpenter in Kilburn, North Yorkshire. He was inspired by the mediaeval woodwork in Ripon minster to set up a workshop to make furnishings, mainly for churches. His massive, unadorned style under Arts and Crafts influence is easily recognised as he used oak finished with the adze, an old tool that left a slightly uneven surface. He both designed pieces and used the designs of others. His signature was an inconspicuous carved mouse, adopted as he claimed to be as poor as a church mouse, and generations of children have searched his work for it. His workshop outlived him, much of its work in the same style, and still continues.
Lit: J Thompson: Robert Thompson, the Mouseman of Kilburn, Lancaster, 1992
Fittings: Coleman’s Hatch, plaque; East Preston, pulpit (successor but attribution doubtful); Streat, lectern; Ticehurst, stalls and lectern (successor)
H Tickner
Henry Tickner (1872-1933) was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, but was living and working in Hastings as a house decorator in 1891. Although barely 16 at the time, there is every reason to believe that he worked on the decoration of St Mary in the Castle in 1888 with H Weston, who was only a year or two older. As late as 1901 he was lodging in Weston’s house, describing himself as an art master, though it is not known where or what he taught.
Decorated: Hastings, – St Mary in the Castle, altar space decorations
— Timson
Timson, whose first names are unknown is one of the poorly documented designers used by J Powell and Sons around 1900.
Glass: Henfield
J Tipping
For Joseph Tipping (b1861) see Shrigley and Hunt.
E Tomagnini
Emene Tomagnini signed the war memorial at Laughton erected in 1921. There is no-one of the name in contemporary British records, including trade directories. The name suggests he was an Italian and the use of Carrara marble for the memorial may suggest that he was working in Italy.
War memorial: Laughton
A E Tombleson
Alfred Edward Tombleson (1851-1943) was born in Huntingdonshire and apprenticed to the Cambridge firm of glass makers, F R Leach and Co. While still working for the firm, where he rose to be foreman, he had by 1868 encountered C E Kempe whom he assisted with his wall-paintings at Staplefield. Thereafter they worked closely together, though Tombleson only became Kempe’s employee in 1890; in 1881 he gave his occupation as mosaic glazer. However, he was clearly concerned with stained glass as in that year he was he sharing an address in St Pancras with his 20-year old sister who was an ‘artist on glass at home’. After Kempe died in 1907, he became a director of the successor company, Kempe and Co and despite his age managed the company’s glass works until it closed in 1934. He worked closely with Kempe and much of his work is not easily to be distinguished, though where the overall design is his, his initials can generally be found somewhere in the glass.
Glass: Denton; Horsham, – St Mary; West Grinstead
Paintings: Staplefield (assisted)
C W Tomes
Charles Warwick Tomes (1854-1928) was the son of the Borough Surveyor of Eastbourne (KD/S 1887), also Charles (1826/27-1902), and was born at Gloucester. His father was a builder and contractor there, before moving in the 1860s to Eastbourne, where he called himself a surveyor and engineer and prospered. His son became a pupil, but by 1878 called himself an architect (KD), with his own address in Grove Road. His only known work on a church dates from 1901 though his practice was still listed in 1907 (KD/S).
Altered: Eastbourne, – St Peter (1901 – dem)
M Tongue
‘‘Miss M Tongue’ is stated to have painted the roof decorations in the south chapel of St Barnabas, Bexhill. The style is derived from that of Raphael and the work is believed to have been carried out around 1922 as part of the work on the church at that time. However, nothing is known of Miss Tongue, even her first name, except that she was said to have come from Arundel.
Paintings and fitting: Bexhill, – St Barnabas with (attr) altar table
W E Tower
Walter Ernest Tower (1873-1955) was a cousin, partner and successor of C E Kempe, whose business he continued until it closed in 1934. He trained as an architect under Sir A Webb, though he may not have qualified formally, and started his own practice in London around 1896, shortly before he became involved in his uncle’s business. He had little to do with stained glass making, even though a punning rebus of a tower was superimposed on the wheatsheaf used in C E Kempe’s later years. Instead, he concentrated more on fittings and carvings.
Rebuilt: Bodle Street Green (1923)
Fitting: Highbrook, reredos and panelling (attr); Slaugham, statues
Restored etc: Chichester, – All Saints, Portfield (1915); Highbrook (1933); Petworth (1903 – with Kempe) and vestry (1912)
Monument: Hailsham
H B Towner
Henry Bingham Towner (1909-97) was born and raised in Uckfield where his family was long established. He first intended entering the Roman Catholic priesthood, but then decided to train as an architect and set up a practice in the town in 1938. This specialised in churches, almost all Roman Catholic, and he is said to have designed over 25 new ones, of which 14 are in Sussex and most of the others in Kent or Surrey, though there are some in Essex and in Reading, Berkshire. They are largely in a simplified form of gothic. In his later years he took several partners and in 1973 the practice was known as Bingham Towner and Partners, with premises in Uckfield High Street (Stubbs).
Restored: Buxted, – St Margaret (1950)
C Townsend
Caroline Charlotte Townsend (1878-1944), was the daughter of Chambery Townsend (b1838/39) an architect of Irish birth who had been a pupil of G E Street. His daughter studied initially at the Slade School and after deciding to take up stained glass she became a pupil of C Whall and was the first long-term tenant of the Glass House (see under Lowndes and Drury). She remained there until 1925, although from 1912 she was in partnership with her former pupil, J Howson (JH), They belonged to the group of stained glass artists, many of them associates of Whall, who lived in Deodar Road, Putney. There, from 1936 they lived at no 66A, next door to E Woore. Both partners were well known for their restoration work. After Townsend’s death, Joan Howson continued to use the joint name of the partnership.
Glass: Donnington (JH); Rustington (both); Storrington (both)
S W Tracy S W Tracey
Samuel William Tracy or Tracey (1832/33-after 1872) was born in Lambeth and was already in practice in Ipswich and Norwich in 1854 when he sought election as ARIBA. By 1861 he was in London, lodging in Hungerford Street, Westminster with an office at Bedford Chambers, 28 Southampton Street. As well as as being an architect, he designed church furnishings for Cox and Co in the mid-1860s. In 1871 he emigrated to Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, where in the same year the Canadian census shows him living alone with his brother, a farmer. He last appears in the RIBA membership list in the following year and the only person in Canada of the name in the 1881 census was living at Niagara. If the same, he had not prospered, for he is described as a labourer. His name is found spelled both ways, even in RIBA membership lists, but ‘Tracy’ predominates.
Restored: Whatlington (1862 – as Tracey)
M Traherne
Margaret Traherne (1919-2006) was born with the name of Wilkes, but preferred Traherne, an old family name. She studied painting at Croydon School of Art and then stained glass with L Lee, M Travers (see this section immediately below) and J Baker. For a while, embroidery was her main activity, followed by a renewed interest in painting. Her early glass was figurative and was influenced by Georges Rouault, but her later work was largely abstract. There is some in the Chapel of Unity at Coventry cathedral and the Roman Catholic one at Liverpool. In the 1950s and 1960s she lived in Deodar Road, Putney, like many followers of C Whall, though she was too young to have had a direct link to him and her style was distinct.
Obit: JSG 30 (2006) pp267-72
Glass: Chailey, – St Peter; Shipley
M Travers
Howard Martin Otho Travers (always called Martin, 1886-1948) trained in glass making under C Whall at the Royal College of Art and also studied architecture, especially while he was articled to Sir J N Comper, whom he briefly assisted, along with Arthur Beresford Pite (1861-1934). Travers started his own practice around 1912 and had a special emphasis from the beginning on stained glass. However, though never registered as an architect, he did design several churches, mostly fairly modest and with assistance on the technical side, mostly from Thomas Francis Wiltshire Grant (1885-1965), the son of W L Grant of Sittingbourne. He was a member of the Art Workers Guild and after his appointment in 1925 as chief instructor in stained glass at the Royal College of Art became a revered and highly influential teacher of the next generation, including glass-makers such as L Lee. At the same time he led an at times intriguing personal life. Shortly after his appointment to the College he gave up the studio he had previously rented at Lowndes and Drury. His stained glass was strongly influenced by Comper and C15 examples and he also both designed fittings and illustrated various High Church publications. As with others who designed mostly for Anglo-Catholic churches at the time, his fittings tended to take their inspiration more from the baroque than the gothic.
Lit: P E Blagdon-Gamlen: Martin Travers, A Handlist of his Works, 1997; R Warrener and M Yelton: Martin Travers (1886-1948): an Appreciation, 2003
Designed: Brighton and Hove, – St Cuthman, Whitehawk (1937-38 – bombed and rebuilt to a different design)
Fittings: Bexhill, – St Peter, rood; Brighton and Hove, – Annunciation, reredos etc; – St Patrick, Hove, fittings (attr); Ticehurst, reredos; Wadhurst, triptych.
Glass: Brighton and Hove, – All Saints, Hove; Burwash; Mountfield; Northiam; Pagham (restored and reset mediaeval glass)
—- Tremaine
Only a single reference to this mid-C18 purveyor or maker of heraldic glass is known, though as the architect of St Pancras, Chichester came from London and was working for the Duke of Richmond, it is reasonable to assume that if not local which is unlikely, Tremaine also came from there.
Glass: Chichester, – St Pancras
R Tressell
Robert Philippe Tressell (1870-1911) was born in Dublin, the illegitimate son of a police inspector. Initially he used his mother’s name of Noonan, but later became known as Tressell (also found as Tressall). This name may have been derived from ‘trestle’ since he was a signwriter and house painter by trade. In 1890 he went to South Africa, where with other Irish nationalists, he formed an Irish Brigade to fight for the Boers. On return to Britain in 1901 he worked as a painter in Hastings and was active as a Socialist until he died of TB. Based on his experiences, he wrote The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists about a group of decorators, though this was only published after his death. It is one of the most influential early left-wing novels in English and is still in print.
Lit: DNB
Fittings: Hastings, – St Andrew, chancel decorations (mostly destroyed)
E W Tristram
Ernest William Tristram (1882-1952) was a student of William Richard Lethaby (1857-1931) at the Royal College of Art. He became the leading historian and restorer of mediaeval wall-paintings of his time, producing watercolour copies, many articles and several massive studies; most of the copies he made are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. He later taught at the College and became professor of design. Neither his historical conclusions nor his methods of restoration are as widely respected today. His own work is influenced by his mediaeval interests and included church fittings, mosaics, some glass and original paintings.
Lit: DNB
Fittings: Eastbourne, – St Elisabeth, paintings, carving and altar
Glass: Boxgrove; Eastbourne, – St Elisabeth (formerly)
Restored: Hardham (paintings); West Chiltington (paintings)
G Trollope and Sons
George Trollope and Sons were primarily building contractors, who had an address in Motcombe Street, Belgravia. They were involved in the building of the area from the 1860s and also of parts of Mayfair from the 1890s. In addition, they were decorators, furnishers and wood carvers and are known to have produced church fittings, almost certainly to the design of others. The company merged with the equally well established firm of Colls and Sons in 1903 and the renamed Trollope and Colls became one of the largest building firms in the country until they were taken over and renamed in 1996. Directories show that at least until 1914 they retained their secondary function of decorators and furnishers.
Fitting: Brighton and Hove, – St Martin, pulpit
F G Troup
Francis Gordon Troup (1887-1984) was the son of a Hatton Garden watchmaker and jeweller and was born and lived in his youth at Tottenham. He was articled to and then assistant of W A Forsyth and Maule and studied at the Architectural Association. From 1911 he practised in Lincoln’s Inn, London and in Horsham, where he appears in Sussex Archaeological Society membership lists from 1922 to 1947. He married the daughter of H R Mosse, historian of Sussex church monuments and benefactor of the new church at Aldwick, which Troup designed. Troup must have served in World War I, for in 1938, exceptionally and perhaps in view of the renewed threat of war, he is described in KD as ‘Captain Troup’. He then moved to Henley-on-Thames and finally to Haslemere, Surrey, where his long life ended. He designed houses and churches and is not to be confused with the better known but unrelated Francis William Troup (1859-1941).
Designed: Aldwick (1933-34); Warninglid (1935)
G Truefitt
George Truefitt (1824-1902) was a pupil of Lewis Nockalls Cottingham (1787-1847) and an Evangelical, who stressed the need for an original style, rather than copying earlier work – this showed itself particularly in the planning of his churches. Truefitt started his own practice around 1850 in time to exhibit a design for a wrought iron canopied tomb at the Great Exhibition the following year (Catalogue p149 item 75). He was best known for his work as surveyor of Tufnell Park, North London, which lasted for over 20 years; he also planned other urban developments. Among the secular buildings he designed were a number of banks and houses, some as far afield as Cheshire. In 1890 he retired to Worthing, where he died, though his church at Farley Hill, Berkshire was not completed until 1892.
Obit: The Builder 83 p153; DNB
Designed: Worthing, – St George (1867-75)
Restored: Lyminster (1864)
Fitting: Lyminster, pulpit
C L R Tudor
Charles Lloyd Richard Tudor (d1931?) is strangely under-recorded. He is presumably the Charles L Tudor, who appears as an architect in 1902 in Cambridge Gardens, London W (KD). Electoral registers show what must also be him as Charles Tudor living in North Kensington between 1892 and 1915. He appears in no census and only his marriage in 1883 is recorded, not his birth or death. He is listed in 1918 under his full name at an address in Charles Road, St Leonard’s, described as an architect (KD/S), and someone of exactly the same name is recorded in probate records only as having died at Heathfield in 1931. All are likely to refer to the same person, but the only known instance of his professional activity, beyond his design for a new reredos for St Mary Magdalene, Hastings of 1919, is the restoration of Turkdean church, Gloucestershire, in 1897.
Fitting: Hastings, – St Mary Magdalene, reredos
—- Turnbull
Nothing is known of the carver of a monument of 1803 at Nuthurst beyond the fact that he gives his address by his signature as ‘London’. There were masons and stone-carvers of the name there at this time, but no specific attribution is feasible.
Memorial: Nuthurst
H Turner
(Annie) Helen Nairn Monro Turner (1901-77) (her maiden name was Monro and she used it in conjunction with her married name) was born in Calcutta, the daughter of a Scots newspaper editor. After schooling in Edinburgh she studied at the Edinburgh School of Art, where she specialised in engraving, though she also produced sculptures. Initially best known for her book illustrations, in later years she took a particular interest in glass engraving and established a department of glass design at the same school.
Engraved glass: Udimore
P Turnerelli
Peter Turnerelli (1774-1839) was the son of a political refugee from the Papal States, who was more properly called Tognarelli. The son was born in Belfast (his mother was Irish) and after a period in Dublin came to London, where he studied at the RA Schools. Subsequently he may have visited Italy briefly but after 1802 he was definitely back in London, where he established himself in business. He became well known for his busts, as well as monuments and frequently visited Ireland.
Memorial: Nuthurst
J Turrill
Nothing is known for certain of this architect beyond a single reference in 1928 in connection with St Mary, East Grinstead, when he is said to be from East Grinstead. However, he is likely to be John Turrill (1865/66-1936), who was partner of J S Alder in London between 1898 and Alder’s death in 1919. Their address was 1 Arundel Street, Strand and Turrill continued there alone until his final appearance in a professional directory in 1935, appearing both as Alder and Turrill and under his own name alone (KD/L). For much of that time he also called himself a surveyor, but remains listed as an architect until after 1929 he drops any indication of a profession. Perhaps arguing against the identification is the fact that he is not known to have any link with East Grinstead – his recorded private addresses were all in West London.
Extended: East Grinstead, – St Mary (1928)
E B Tyler Tyler-Dixon Partnership Tyler and Dixon
The origins of the practice go back to c1920, the earliest date in the series of its plans now in WSRO (Acc 11621). Eric Brian Tyler (EBT) (1903-85) is found by name in Chichester from 1938 (KD), initially on his own and later as a member of the Tyler-Dixon Parnership. The partnership, which has done much housing, including a sizeable project at Poole, Dorset, is still to be found with an address in Westgate, Chichester.
Repaired: Earnley (1971); North Mundham (1961-63); Sidlesham (1963 – EBT)
W Tyler
William Tyler has not been identified for certain beyond the single reference to him at Withyham in 1869. He may be the same as William Henry Tyler of Kensington, who exhibited in London from 1880 to 1893. In addition, Grant records a sculptor of the name who exhibited works in marble, bronze and terra cotta, largely portrait busts, between 1878 and the end of the C19 who is probably the same. However, identifying particulars are too sparse to be certain and the only person of the name recorded in Kensington in 1881 seems hardly likely to be the same since he was a general dealer, whose address was 8 Garibaldi Mews (b1835/36).
Memorial: Withyham, – St Michael
T Tyrwhitt
Thomas Tyrwhitt (1874-1956) attended Lancing and then Oxford, before studying at the Architectural Association and becoming a pupil and then assistant of Sir A Webb. He started his own practice in London in 1901 and in the same year designed a gymnasium for Bloxham school, Oxfordshire. However, within a year he had moved to Hong Kong, where he remained until 1904 in the practice of Denison, Ram and Gibbs, established there in 1896 and responsible for many public and private buildings. From Hong Kong he moved to Pretoria, South Africa, where he worked until 1907 in the Public Works Department, latterly as Superintending Architect, where his work consisted largely of schools and post offices. On return to London he once more started in private practice at 3 Arundel Street, Strand, specialising in country houses (including two at Bolney) and cottages, though in 1919-20 he was briefly Superintending Architect, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. His best known work is the Indian Memorial Gateway outside the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, for which he won the competition (WWA 1923). He died in the Canary Islands.
Lit: BAL Biog file; Obits: The Builder 191 p322; RIBAJ 65 (1958) p212
Designed: Haywards Heath, – Presentation (1897)
Vestry: Bolney (1912)
H J Underwood
Henry Jones Underwood (1804-52) came from Bristol, but trained under Henry Hake Seward (1778-1848) in London, where he also attended the RA Schools. He worked subsequently in the office of Sir R Smirke and later moved to Oxford, where he became one of the most prolific architects, designing churches, parsonages and other houses. He used both the classical and gothic styles and also designed nonconformist chapels. The best known of his churches is Littlemore church, Oxfordshire (1835-36) which he built for John Henry Newman (1801-90) and which became the model for many small C19 parish churches. He lived at 18 Beaumont Street, Oxford but following a nervous breakdown committed suicide at Bath, a city with which he had some connection as in 1844 he had designed a Swedenborgian church there. His practice was taken over by Edward George Bruton (1826-99).
Designed: Lower Beeding (1838-40 – largely rebuilt)
J Underwood and Sons
John Underwood and Sons were a firm of stone-carvers, who produced the reredos at Polegate in 1885. They are likely to be the same as the firm of John Underwood and Sons Ltd, described as statuaries and monumental masons of 27 Baker Street, although they do not appear in KD/L until 1903. Corroboration is provided by a pulpit of 1894 at Pennington, Hampshire which was made by a company of the same name with an address in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. Between 1930 and 1937 the firm previously in Baker Street was only to be found in KD/L at what had previously been its second address in Boundary Road, St John’s Wood, but in the same entry premises at Buckhurst Hill were revealed, as well as Golders Green. Moreover, they are presumably the same as the company of John Underwood, monumental masons of Knox Street, Paddington, who appear in KD/L for 1941-42 only. Their interests were wider than just stonework, for they supplied glass over an extended period of time, as late as 1929 in the case of the east window of St Michael, Ipswich. However, it is doubtful whether they manufactured their own glass as opposed to buying it from outside suppliers.
Fitting: Polegate, reredos
Glass: Hastings, – St Matthew, Silverhill
P M Vangelder
Peter Matthias Vangelder (also found as van Gelder) (c1742-1809) was born in Amsterdam and first appears in London when he was accepted for the RA Schools in 1769. At the same time he commenced work in the workshop of T Carter junior, where he was particularly esteemed for his carving of foliage. Before he left Carter, Vangelder had set up his own workshop where, among other works, he carved several monuments designed by Robert Adam. He also became a mason, building numerous houses in newly developed areas of London such as Bedford Square.
Memorial: Worthing, – St Mary, Broadwater
W Vennall
A statuary of Hastings, who signs one monument thus, which is dated 1826. Another of 1823 may be given to him also, but the only stonemason in Hastings of the name recorded during this period is Henry Vennall, who is to be found in PD 1839 but not before, though he was still there in 1851 (KD). Curiously he does not appear in the census of that year. However, even if not the same, he is likely to be connected.
Memorial: Hastings, – All Saints
G C Vernon-Inkpen
George Charles Vernon-Inkpen (1857-1926) was born at Bethnal Green, the son of a carpenter. Nothing is known of his training, but in 1879 he had a practice in London. However, by 1881 he was lodging in Oving, probably during the period leading to the establishment of a practice at The Cross, Chichester (KD) which is recorded from 1882 to 1890. This was the start of a period during which his activities were widely spread across southern England; as early as 1887 there is a reference to the practice of Inkpen and Stallard in Southsea and Havant, Hampshire (Stallard is unknown and perhaps significantly the only recorded work of the practice was in the Old Kent Road, London), whilst in 1891 Inkpen was living in Southsea, Hampshire. In 1893-94 with a partner called Swinburne he is listed with addresses in Midhurst and Bognor. Swinburne has also not been identified for sure, but Frank Swinburne (b1863), architect and surveyor of West Street, Emsworth, Hampshire who was also surveyor to Warblington Urban District Council (KD/Hampshire 1898), is a likely candidate. He was a Londoner by birth, but later lived with his parents in Emsworth; in 1891 all three of them were supported by their own means and in 1901 he was living at Warblington, which is on the edge of the town. By 1895 (KD/Hampshire) Vernon-Inkpen (his use of the hyphenated form does not appear earlier) was alone at 6 Kings Road, Southsea and in that year his status was sufficient to be elected a Borough Councillor, which he retained in 1899. During this time he moved, for in 1898 he was living, still on his own, at 75 Kings Road (ibid), though in 1901 he was at Idsworth, Hampshire, close to Rowlands Castle, where he worked on the church in 1905 and also designed a parish hall in 1914. Between 1914 and 1926, when his business address was 40 Commercial Road, Southsea (WWA), he was also without a partner, yet a year after his death, there was a branch of Inkpen and Rogers (who must have been the last of his elusive partners, if only briefly) in South Street, Chichester (KD). Inkpen designed schools, and domestic, commercial and industrial work, mostly in the Portsmouth area or Dorset. In KD 1898 he proudly announced his possession of a Special Diploma in Sanitary Sciences.
Restored: Chichester, – St Bartholomew (1894 as V-I and Swinburne)
D Verulam
The Countess of Verulam, whose first name is Dione (b1954), is the daughter of R Smith of Balcombe and collaborated with her on the stencilled painting in the church there. The Countess, who was Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire from 2007-17, is also a widely exhibited painter.
Painting: Balcombe
A Vidler
Albert Vidler (1828-94) was the son of Major Vidler (see immediately below) and first learned the trade of stonemason under his father. He moved with his father to Pevensey, where he remained for the rest of his life except for the years c1857-63, when he was in business as a photographer in Eastbourne. After his return to Pevensey he worked as an architect and assisted his father as Surveyor of the Levels until he succeeded him in 1880. He resigned the office in 1891 because of ill health and his death occurred two days after that of his wife.
Designed: Pevensey, font-cover
M Vidler Vidler and Co
Major Vidler (1798-1880) (‘Major’ is a Christian name) was born in Battle and was living with his father, Thomas, in Hastings High Street in 1841, described as a builder and stonemason. His mother’s maiden name was Inskipp, which might suggest a link with the Hastings Surveyor W Inskipp who was also born at Battle. In 1841 he moved to Pevensey, where he was appointed Surveyor of the Levels (KD). He kept the post until his death and was assisted and then succeeded by his son Albert (see immediately above). Several memorial tablets in churches in and near Hastings, dated between 1823 and 1839 that are given to Major Vidler, are presumably by the same man, though as he is also said to have worked at Battle Abbey (the house) as early as 1811, remaining until 1818 (Llewellyn p25), there must be some doubt.
Designed: Bexhill, – St Mark, Little Common (1840 – rebuilt)
Memorials: Battle (one as V and Co); Beckley; Hastings, – All Saints; Winchelsea
G Voysey
George Voysey (1807/08-94) was a Cornishman by birth and he clearly prospered at an early age, for he is listed in PB 1837 as an owner of property in the parish of St Mary Magdalene, Hastings. Nothing is known of his training or how he reached Sussex, but he is listed as an architect in St Leonards by 1855 (KD) and also an auctioneer (Melville’s Directory 1858). In 1865-67 his partners were A W Jeffery and W Skiller and they designed mostly domestic buildings and offices. Jeffery and Skiller are listed alone in 1868, but Voysey had again become a partner in 1871 (KD); in 1881 and 1891 he was given as retired.
Designed: Hastings, – St Matthew (1860-61 – mission church)
L Vulliamy
Lewis Vulliamy (1791-1871) was the son of a clockmaker of Swiss origin and was born in Westminster. He was a pupil of Sir R Smirke and also studied at the RA Schools. He started his own practice as early as 1814, but travelled for four years from 1818 on the continent and as far afield as Asia Minor. He quickly built up a busy practice after his return and was known especially for his country houses, which were widely spread geographically and in a variety of styles. By contrast, most of the considerable number of churches he designed were gothic, though they were untouched by the precepts of the Ecclesiologists and he designed mostly houses and public buildings after about 1850. He continued his practice until his death, when he was living in Clapham, though as with so many architects of his generation, there is a marked decline in the number of buildings he designed after the 1840s.
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Lit: BAL Biog file; DNB
Designed: Stonegate (1838 – replaced)