So Who Was William Bonython Moffatt?

    

An A-Z of Architects of Loughborough

For a complete list of the A-Z posts please head over to the bloglist.

 

As with many of the letters in the alphabetical whiz through architects with a Loughborough connection, I had several candidates for letter M. I might, perhaps have chosen to write about John Morris, of the architectural partnership John Morris and Charles Grieve Hebson, who were based in London. One of the firm's most notable buildings was the grammar school at Wimbourne in Dorset, around 1849-1851. The architectural partnership was dissolved in 1854, when Morris emigrated to Canada, but that was after the pair had also designed, what I would describe as the main building for the Loughborough Grammar School.

However, I’ve decided to write about a different architect, one who also was part of a partnership which worked from London.

Short biography of William Bonython Moffatt

William Bonython Moffatt was born in 1812 in St Columb, Cornwall, to parents Richard, born in 1777, and at the time of William’s birth he was a carpenter, and his wife Elizabeth, born in 1790. Richard and Elizabeth had married on 25 December 1810 in St Columb Minor, Cornwall. Elizabeth’s family name was Bonython, which is where William’s middle name comes from. Richard and Elizabeth also had another child, Mary, baptised in 1813. It’s possible that Richard’s father was also a Richard Moffatt, master carpenter with apprentices around 1876 in St Columb Minor.

Apparently, having a master carpenter for a father leads biographers to suggest that William Bonython was from a working-class family, and uneducated. If this means that one is employed in a trade, then this may be the case, however, since Richard seems to own land in St Columb Minor, and since he is referred to as an ‘esquire’ (so not quite a gentleman) on the wedding licence of his son in 1846, I’d suggest he was further up the social ladder than this.

Anyway, I can’t find much about William Bonython Moffatt’s early years, except that he was apprenticed to the architect James Edmeston, as was George Gilbert Scott. Scott then helped out with the design of workhouses, and once he had set up his own practice in about 1835, he took on William as assistant, and clerk of works, the practice being based at Spring Gardens. I’ve read somewhere on my travels, that William kept four horses, and that he and Scott would ride across the country looking for commissions to build workhouses. In 1836, William was commissioned to design the Union Workhouse at Amesbury, but together Scott and Moffatt designed over 40 workhouses in around 5 years.

The partnership of Scott and Moffatt came to an end in 1845, and somehow William got into debt, and was jailed. On 31 December 1846, William married Diana Margaretta Jones, at St Martin-in-the-Fields. In the ensuing 4 years, the couple had three children – Sydney, Julia, and Rosalie. By 1851, they were living at 81 North End, Croydon, William’s occupation being listed as surveyor, before moving to Southwark.

Eventually, William retired, and returned to St Columb, Cornwall. He died on 24 May 1887, at the age of 75, at Summercourt, St Ednor, in Cornwall, after a protracted illness. He was survived by his wife, Diana, who died in 1898, in Roche, Cornwall: her effects were £898 2s. 6d..

 

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What follows is a selection of buildings designed by Arthur John Price

Note: this is a selective, not a comprehensive listing.

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*Loughborough Union Workhouse (with George Gilbert Scott) (1838)

*Amesbury Union Workhouse (1836)

*Royal Crystal Palace Hotel (c.1853/1860)

*Taunton Assize Courts/Shire Hall (1855-8)

*Royal Earlswood Hospital, Redhill (1853)

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Basic facts

Name: William Bonython Moffatt

Parents: Richard and Elziabeth née Bonython

Date and place of Birth: 1812, St Columb, Cornwall

Spouse: Diana Margaretta Jones

Children: Sydney (b.c.1848); Julia (b.c.1849); Rosalie (b.c.1851)

Death: 24 May 1887

Places lived: Summercourt, St Columb Minor; Spring Gardens

Place of work/Offices: Spring Gardens

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I’m taking part in the April A-Z Blogging Challenge!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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