Betjeman, Sir John (1906–1984), poet, writer, and broadcaster, was born on 28 August 1906 at 52 Parliament Hill Mansions, north London, the only child of Ernest Edward Betjemann (1872–1934), a furniture manufacturer, and his wife, Mabel Bessie Dawson (1879–1952). The family name, of Dutch or German origin, can be traced back to an immigration in the late eighteenth century. The poet adopted his style of it about the age of twenty-one....
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Kingsley Amis
revised by M. Clare Loughlin-Chow
revised
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Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche (1805–1888), architectural historian, was born at midnight on 12 May 1805 in a boarding-house at the corner of Lawrence Sheriff Street and Sheep Street, Rugby, opposite Rugby School, where his father was an assistant master. Matt, as he was known, was the eighth of the ten children of ...
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Robert Carswell
Brett, Sir Charles Edward Bainbridge (1928–2005), solicitor and architectural historian, was born on 30 October 1928 at Glenard, Holywood, co. Down, the eldest son of Charles Anthony Brett (1897–1988), solicitor, and his wife, (Elizabeth) Joyce, née Carter. His father was senior partner of ...
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Colvin, Sir Howard Montagu (1919–2007), architectural historian, was born on 15 October 1919 at Inglenook, 4 Longlands Park Road, Foots Cray, Kent, the elder son of Montagu Colvin (1888–1938), an engineer's buyer, and his wife, Annie Winifred, née Randle (1888–1944), daughter of George Beavis Randle...
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Michael Hall
Cornforth, John Lewley (1937–2004), art historian, was born on 2 September 1937 at Heatherdene, Etchinghill, Staffordshire, the only child of Guy Neville Cornforth (1908–1961), company director, and his wife, Felicia, née Foden (1902–1996), daughter of Edward Foden, a land agent. In ...
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Elmes, James (1782–1862), writer on architecture, was born in London on 15 October 1782, the son of Samuel Elmes, builder, and his wife, Mary. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School from April 1796, and later became a pupil of George Gibson...
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David Boyd Haycock
Fergusson, James (1808–1886), architectural historian, was born in Ayr, Scotland, in late 1808, the second son of Dr William Fergusson (1773–1846), an army surgeon with an interest in engineering as applied to military hospitals. Fergusson's family eventually settled in Windsor, and James was educated at the ...
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G. B. Smith
revised by Ruth Richardson and Robert Thorne
Godwin, George (1813–1888), architect and journal editor, was born in Brompton Terrace, Kensington, London, on 28 January 1813, one of nine children of George Godwin senior (1780–1863) and his wife, Mary Anne (1790–1872). His father was an architect and surveyor who played a significant role in the development of ...
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Paul Waterhouse
revised by Donald Findlay
Micklethwaite, John Thomas (1843–1906), architect and ecclesiologist, was born at Rishworth House, Wakefield, Yorkshire, on 3 May 1843, the son of James Micklethwaite of Hopton, Mirfield, worsted spinner and colliery owner, and his wife, Sarah Eliza Stanway of Manchester. After private education at ...
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James Fergusson
Milne, (George) James Henry Lees- (1908–1997), architectural historian and conservationist, was born at Wickhamford Manor, Worcestershire, on 6 August 1908, the second of three children and elder son of George Crompton Lees-Milne (1880–1949) and his wife, Helen Christina (1884–1962), daughter of Henry Bailey...
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Nicholson, Peter (1765–1844), architectural writer and mathematician, was born at Prestonkirk, Haddingtonshire, close to Edinburgh, on 20 July 1765, the third of nine children. His parents were George Nicholson (1733–1832), a stonemason, and Margaret Hastie.
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Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon (1902–1983), architectural historian, was born in Leipzig on 30 January 1902 into a Russian-Jewish family, the younger son (there were no daughters) of Hugo Pewsner, later Pevsner (1869–1940), a successful fur trader, and his wife, Annie Perlmann (...
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Elizabeth Darling
Pidgeon [née Lehmann], Monica Helen Ida (1913–2009), architectural journalist and editor, was born on 29 September 1913 in Catemu, Chile, the younger daughter and second of the three children of Andrew William Lehmann (1878–1970), chairman of a copper mining company, and his Scottish wife, ...
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Prior, Edward Schroder (1852–1932), architect and writer on architecture, was born on 4 January 1852 at Croom's Hill, Greenwich, Kent, the sixth of eleven children of John Venn Prior (1812–1855), barrister, and his wife, Hebe Catherine Templer (d. 1887), headmistress, the daughter of ...
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David Neave
Smith, Rupert Alexander Alec- (1913–1983), architectural conservationist and local politician, was born on 5 September 1913 at Elloughton, near Hull, the only son and elder of the two children of Alexander Smith (1877–1952), timber merchant, and his wife, Lucy Adelaide, née Horsley (1879–1957)...
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Statham, Henry Heathcote (1839–1924), architectural writer and journal editor, was born at Everton, Lancashire, on 11 January 1839, the eldest son of Henry Heathcote Statham, a solicitor, and his wife, Irene Elisa, née Horner. The journalist Francis Reginald Statham was his younger brother. He was educated at ...
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Stops, Gervase Frank Ashworth Jackson- (1947–1995), architectural historian, was born on 26 April 1947 at Barratt maternity home, Northampton, the second of four children of Anthony Ashworth Briggs (1914–1986) of Durngate, Northampton, solicitor and afterwards estate agent, and his wife, Jean (b...
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David B. Brownlee
Street, George Edmund (1824–1881), architect and architectural theorist, was born on 20 June 1824 at Woodford, Essex, the third son of Thomas Henry Street (d. 1840), solicitor, and his second wife, Mary Anne Millington (d. 1851). A principal shaper of the architectural style later called ‘High Victorian’, he was also one of the most thoughtful architectural writers of his day....
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Summerson, Sir John Newenham (1904–1992), museum curator and architectural historian, was born at Barnstead, Coniscliffe Road, Darlington, co. Durham, on 25 November 1904, the only surviving child of Samuel James Summerson (d. 1907) and Dorothea Worth Newenham (d. 1963), and the grandson of ...
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Christopher Hussey
revised by Catherine Gordon
Weaver, Sir Lawrence Walter William (1876–1930), civil servant and architectural writer, was born at Clifton, Bristol, on 2 July 1876, the only child of Walter Weaver and his wife, Frances Mary Taylor. Brought up at Clifton by his mother, he was educated at ...