John Alfred Gotch

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John Alfred Gotch (1852-1942) was a noted British architect and architectural historian. His brother was the Pre-Raphaelite painter and illustrator Thomas Cooper Gotch, who painted his portrait.

In 1879 Gotch set up a private architectural practice in Kettering, Northamptonshire which developed into the firm Gotch & Saunders (with his partner Charles Saunders).

As well as designing many buildings (especially for the Midland Bank) Gotch had a special interest in Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture, and became a national authority on the subject through his writings.^{[citation needed]} He was the author of nine books in this field (two of which were reissued), as well as editor of a book on the history of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Apart from his renown as an architectural historian, he also achieved eminence as a public figure and representative of the architectural profession.

He was President of the Architectural Association in 1886-7, Vice-President of the RIBA in 1914-9, and President of RIBA in 1923-5: the first provincial architect to be appointed President since the formation of the Institute in 1834. In addition, he was Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries, a founder member of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, a Trustee of the Soane Museum, and President of the Northamptonshire Association of Architects in 1911-22. In 1924 he received an honorary M.A. degree from the University of Oxford. John Alfred Gotch was appointed the first Charter Mayor of Kettering in 1938.