An A-Z of Architects of Loughborough
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Short biography of George Harry Barrowcliff (scroll down for Arnold Montague Barrowcliff)
George Harry Barrowcliff was born on 29 May 1864, son of Marmaduke, born 1826 in Dishley, and Ann, born 1826 in Swithland. Marmaduke and Ann already had four children – Mary, Herbert, John Edward, and Frank, before George was baptised on 3 July at Emmanuel church, and Frederick was born a year later. George’s paternal grandfather, John, was a farmer of substantial acreage at Loughborough Parks, but had died in 1856.
In 1871, the family were living on Albert Street where Marmaduke had risen from being a merino hosiery warehouseman, to a manufacturer. By 1881 they had moved to a property at Hathern, known as The Elms, although at the time, George and younger brother Frederick were boarding at the Loughborough Grammar School. Studies completed, between 1881 and 1885, George was articled to George Hodson and remained with him as an assistant and resident engineer after qualifying, until August 1888, when he opened his own practice as a civil engineer, architect, and surveyor. During his time with Hodson, George became familiar, amongst other things, with the Blackbrook water scheme, and on 3 December 1889 he was admitted as a student member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, at which time he was living on Mill Street (now Market Street) Loughborough. He successfully gained Associate Membership of the Institution on 27 January 1890, having proved his capabilities by being involved with several road improvement schemes, the water supply to the Loughborough Cemetery Lodge, and the drainage, fencing, and laying out of 5.5 acres of land for the Local Burial Board. It was around this time that he joined forces with Edward Thomas Allcock, a student architect.
In the summer of 1890, George married Jessie Dexter, who had been born on 19 March 1863 at Swithland, although the marriage took place at Edmonton in Middlesex. The couple made their home at no.3 Cumberland Road Loughborough, and in 1891 George was the Honorary Secretary of the managing committee for the dinner to aged and deserving poor. Later that same year, the couple welcomed Arnold Montague to the family, and he was baptised at Emmanuel church on 14 October 1891. During the years that followed, George, had an assistant William Edwin Johnson, and an apprentice, one Thomas Henry Dobson, who stayed with him for a period of three years, before becoming assistant to Willie Thomas Hampton for a year. By 1901 George, Jessie, and Arnold had moved to a property on Ashby Road, where they had a live-in servant, Elizabeth Carter, who stayed with the family when they moved to a 10-roomed house on Burton Walks, and was joined by her younger sister.
In 1905, George Harry Barrowcliff and his partner Edward Thomas Allcock won the competition to design the Carnegie public library for Loughborough, for which there had been eight entries. The judge of that competition was George Hodson, who suggested a few modifications and alterations to the winning design.
Arnold, George and Jessie’s son, followed in his father’s footsteps and in 1911 he was an architecture student, lodging in Stamford. Meanwhile, George continued to work with Edward Thomas Allcock, and in 1912 they were appointed to the Loughborough Education Committee for a period of three years. However, by 1918, George seems to have established a separate architectural practice under the name of G.H. & A.M. Barrowcliff, which was based at 18 Devonshire Square. This was the year that Arnold Montague, MC, BA (London) was elected to RIBA, and the following year the partnership between George Barrowcliff and Thomas Allcock civil engineers, architects, and surveyors at the Town Hall Chambers, was dissolved by mutual consent.
By 1921, George, Jessie, Arnold, and the faithful Elizabeth Carter were living at 69 Forest Road, a semi-detached property with 16 rooms, now one part of Kingfisher Halls. A few months after the census return, Arnold Montague married Margaret Dewar, and they moved to no.20 Burton Street, not far from Edward Thomas Allcock, who lived at no.11.
On 3 May 1924 George Harry Barrowcliff of Westbridge, Forest Road, Loughborough died at the nursing home on Leicester Road. Probate was granted from Leicester on 12 September 1924 to Jessie his widow, and Arnold Montagues Barrowcliff, his son, an architect and surveyor. Effects were £10.482 11s. 3d.. After his father’s death, Arnold Montague continued to work from Town Hall Chambers, and he and his wife were still living at no.20 Burton Street when the 1939 Register was published: they were both air raid wardens. George’s widow, Jessie, was still living at 69 Forest Road in 1939, but at the time of her death on 17 August 1940, she was now at 49 Colgrove Road. Probate was granted at Leicester on 4 December 1940 to her son Arnold Montague, and retired bank cashier John Stewart Hartley Cope. Effects were £5,295 13s. 7d..
The
Barrowcliff’s faithful servant, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, died in 1964, probate
being granted to Arnold Montague who was by then retired from architecture, and
to solicitor William Guy Toone. Arnold Montague died in 1974, at which time he
lived at 78 Forest Road, and Margaret continued to live there until her own death
in 1982.
____________________________________
What follows is a selection of
buildings designed by Barrowcliff, either alone or with partners.
Note: this is a selective, not a
comprehensive listing.
____________________________________
Sole designs
*Memorial baths in
Queen’s Park (1897)
*Rosebery Street School
(1897-9)
* Charnwood Forest
Convalescent Home, Woodhouse Lane (1894)
*United Reformed Church
(opened as a congregational chapel) (1908)
*Part of the Grammar School (1895)
____________________________________
With Edward Thomas Allcock as Barrowcliff & Allcock (partnership begun 1889,
dissolved 1918)
*Bellfoundry additions
& carillon 1905
*Charnwood Museum (1899)
*Public Library (1903-5)
*Additions to manor
house Normanton on Soar
*Emmanuel Church chancel
lengthening (by 13ft) & choir and clergy vestries re-build (1909)
*St Mary’s Catholic
Church new nave
*House in Gidea Park,
Romford
*Sir Gilbert Claughton
Centre Dudley (1904 – Dudley Upper School)
*Newbridge High School
Coalville (1909)
*Grammar School
Knaresborough (1897)
*Cooper Memorial Home
for Children, Brand Hill, Woodhouse Eaves (with Alfred William Newsom Burder)
*Converted Hodsons’s
free library on Green Close Lane to the Technical Institute (1909)
*Belltower at the
bellfoundry (following a fire in 1897)
____________________________________
With W. S. Weatherley of London
*St Peter’s Church, Loughborough (1909)
____________________________________
Basic facts
Architect
- George Harry
Barrowcliff
Parents: Marmaduke and Ann
Date
and place of Birth:
1864 Loughborough
Spouse: Jessie Dexter 1890
Children: Arnold Montague (became an architect
and worked in partnership with his father from 1918, and later at 18 Devonshire
Square)
Death: 1924 Loughborough
Places
lived: Albert Street
1871; The Elms Hathern 1881; Mill Street 1888; 1890 Cumberland Road; Ashby Road
1901; Forest Road
Place of work/Offices: Town Hall
____________________________________
Short biography of Arnold Montague Barrowcliff
Arnold Montague was born in Loughborough in 1891 to George Harry and his wife, Jessie. Arnold followed in his architect father’s footsteps, and in 1911 was an architectural student living in Stamford, Lincs.. In 1912 Arnold graduated with an architecture degree from the University College London, and subsequently worked with his father. This was interrupted by a period of military service during the First World War, for which he was awarded the Military Cross.
In
1921, Arnold married Margaret Grace Dewar, the only daughter of the Rev. Dewar
of Holy Trinity church, although he died only two weeks before the marriage
took place. When Arnold’s own father died in 1924, the architectural practice
passed to him. Arnold and Margaret lived at 20 Burton Street, and were still
there when Arnold’s mother, Jessie died in 1941. When Arnold himself died, in
1974 he was living at 78 Forest Road. His wife Margaret Grace died in 1982.
____________________________________
What follows is a selection of
buildings designed by Barrowcliff
Note: this is a selective, not a
comprehensive listing.
____________________________________
Sole designs
*Work
on St Mary’s Catholic church (1925) including alterations to the nave and the aisle.
____________________________________
Basic facts
Name: Arnold Montague Barrowcliff
Parents: George Harry and Jessie (nee Dexter)
Date
and place of Birth: 1891
Loughborough
Spouse: Margaret Grace Dewar 1921
Children: The couple appear not to have had
any children
Death: 1974 Loughborough
Places
lived: Albert Street
1871; The Elms Hathern 1881; Mill Street 1888; Cumberland Road 1890; Ashby Road
1901; 20 Burton Street 1924; 78 Forest Road
Place
of work/Offices: Town
Hall
____________________________________
I’m taking part in the April A-Z
Blogging Challenge!
____________________________________
Posted by lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
_______________________________________________
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Dyer, Lynne (2026). George Harry and Arnold Montague Barrowcliff. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/02/so-who-were-george-harry-barrowcliff.html [Accessed 2 April 2026]
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