So Who Was A.E. King Part 1

So Who Was A.E. King?

Way back in 2016 I began to try and find out who A.E. King was. My interest had come about because I had found reference to him as an architect in Loughborough, and I wanted to know more about him, his life, and his work. Well, as you can imagine, researching was a very long process, which threw up lots of questions, but it is only now that I have been reminded I did this research, and so I now present this to you. Naturally, it is incomplete, but this is what I have learned so far!

So, which A.E. King are we concerned with? In truth, I have found numerous A.E. Kings, at least two with connections to Loughborough, and two with those connections who were architects and surveyors! All very tricky to disentangle!

Let’s begin with A.E. King – that’s Albert Edward King …

Albert Edward was born to parents Joshua King and Sarah (nee Holmes) in Arksey, Yorkshire, in 1874. He was baptised on 3rd August 1874. His father, Joshua, was the son of John, a labourer, and his wife, Elizabeth, and had been baptised on 29th December 1831, in Haddlesey, Yorkshire. Albert Edward’s mother, Sarah Holmes was born in 1837 in Rossington, Yorkshire, to parents James and Hannah.

Albert Edward’s father, Joshua, had two younger siblings, Mary and William, and by the age of 19, Joshua was apprentice to shoemaker James Brown, with whom he was lodging in Kippax, Pontefract in 1851. I have no idea how Joshua met Sarah Holmes, but the couple were married in Doncaster in January 1857.

The birth of Albert Edward’s older brother, John William, took place in 1860, when his father was now a cordwainer (a qualified maker of shoes in leather), and the family were living in Adwick le Street, a village close to Doncaster. By 1871, Joshua had now gone into farming and cattle dealing, and he and Sarah, living at Arksey, now had two boys, John William aged 10, and Fred aged 5.

On 16th May 1878, when Albert Edward was aged only 4, his father, shoemaker turned farmer, Joshua, died and probate was granted to his widow, Sarah. Sarah then married Henry Smith, a retired milker, some 16 years older than she. In the 1881 census returns, Sarah and Henry were living in Kirk Bramwith, Arksey, Yorkshire, with Sarah’s 83-year-old mother, Hannah, and Sarah’s son, 15-year-old Frederick. But what of Albert Edward, aged only 7? Turns out, he was living next door to his mother, with his uncle and aunt, John a 44-year-old farmer and his wife, Harriott Singer.

At the age of 17, in 1891, Albert Edward was boarding with William Glossop, who was in the shipping business (although I can’t quite make out from the census return exactly what his occupation was), and his wife Anne. Albert Edward was a teacher to a pupil, which was probably William and Anne’s own children, Gertrude aged 10, and Harry aged 5. Along with Albert Edward another boarder, Stephen Salmon, who was a police officer, was also living in the house, at 11 Argyle Street, Hook, near Goole, in Yorkshire.

Between 1891 and 1899 Albert Edward seems to have changed occupation, just like his father, Joshua had done, and in March of 1899 it is clear that Albert Edward had set himself up as an architect in Loughborough, on Baxter Gate. The directors of a group calling themselves the ‘Loughborough Temperance Hall and Café Company’ were inviting tenders to build a New Temperance Hall Café in Cattle Market, and such applications were to be sent to Albert E. King whose architectural practice had designed the building.

Although his business was settled in Loughborough, Albert Edward, the architect, was only lodging in the town in 1901. He was boarding in the property of Louisa Groves and her children at 94 Leicester Road, along with two other boarders who were both electrical engineers, and a couple of servants.

Albert Edward’s business, A.E. King, Architects, began to grow, and his designs could now be seen in the bank building in Shepshed Bull Ring for the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Banking Company (designed 1903-4); the Theatre Royal on Mill Street (now Market Street), designed in 1904, for the proprietors W. Payne Seddon and George Robertson (who had several other theatres) but now demolished. In 1906 Albert Edward King was looking for builders to erect a new Old Boot Hotel, which replaced an establishment of the same name, which had been demolished. However, the architect’s role was quite varied, and in 1908 Albert Edward produced plans showing gradients, cross sections, and road widths as evidence in relation to a road accident that had taken place near Whitwick.

In 1909, Albert Edward appears to have married divorcee Lily Jane Nicholson (nee Crawforth), although as yet I’ve not found a record of this marriage. Lily Jane had married Frederick Howard Nicholson in November 1904, but they had divorced in January 1909, although this had been rescinded in October 1909. At the time of the 1911 census, Albert Edward and his wife, Jane, were listed at 96 Victoria Street, Westminster, and Albert was an architect, working on his own account. The practice on Baxter Gate in Loughborough was still part of Albert Edward’s empire.

On 26th December 1911, Albert Edward King of 19 Baxter Gate and the Great Central Hotel, died at 96 Victoria Street, Westminster. Death was from ptomaine poisoning, complicated with pneumonia. He was aged 41, and, according to the Architect’s Journal of 1912, he had an extensive practice in the designing of electric theatres and factories.  Probate was granted on 5th February 1912 to Lily Jane Nicholson (otherwise Lily Crawforth, otherwise Lily Crawforth King, wife of Frederick Howard Nicholson) of 96 Victoria Street, Westminster. Effects were £4,178 1s. 6d..

The architectural and surveying practice of Albert E. King continued to operate from Baxter Gate, after the death of A.E. himself. At the time of Albert Edward King’s death, Albert Edward Perkins was articled to him, and upon the death of King, Perkins took over the practice, going into partnership with a Mr Haynes. Sadly, Albert Edward Perkins died in 1918.

In 1913, a pair of semi-detached villas on Leicester Road, part of the Elms Park Estate, one - Elm Cottage - was occupied by Richard Sutton Clifford, the other - Holmwood - was occupied by Miss Clarke, were for sale. Details of the properties were available both from King’s offices in Loughborough and in Westminster, as well as from local estate agents W. and F. Armstrong, and local solicitors Clifford and Clifford.

King’s architectural and surveying practice continued to operate from Baxter Gate. In 1915 the practice was looking for land to purchase in Normanton or Sutton Bonington (although it is unclear whether they were making this purchase for themselves, or acting as agents for other purchasers). The practice was also advertising plots of land available on what is described in a newspaper report of the time as the Elms Park Building Estate, and were looking for land for ‘works’, ‘locality not important’!

In 1939 the old brewery buildings (presumably those on Derby Road) were about to be demolished in August, and the architectural practice of Albert E. King on Baxter Gate were looking for reliable contractors to undertake the work.

In September 1939 Lily Jane Crawforth King, wife of Albert Edward King, died.

The architectural practice continued. A RIBA directory lists Albert E. King and Co. still at 19 Baxter Gate Loughborough, LE11 1TG, telephone 0509 212316, and having a branch office at 19 Milton Street, Nottingham, NG1 3EN. The partners in the practice at the time were E.L. Messom, ARIBA and F.E. Dickinson, RIBA.

So, that's one A.E.King! Check back next week for the story of another A.E.King!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2024). So Who Was A.E. King Part 1. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/10/so-who-was-ae-king-part-1.html  [Accessed 6 October 2024]

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