George Frederick Bodley

George Frederick Bodley
Born 14 March 1827(1827-03-14)
Hull
Died 21 October 1907(1907-10-21) (aged 80)
Water Eaton, Oxfordshire
Nationality English
Awards Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1899)

George Frederick Bodley (14 March 1827 – 21 October 1907) was an English architect working in the Gothic revival style.

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Personal life

Bodley was the youngest son of William Hulme Bodley, M.D. of Edinburgh, physician at Hull Royal Infirmary, Kingston upon Hull, who in 1838 retired to his wife's home town, Brighton, Sussex, England. George's eldest brother, the Rev. W. H. Bodley, became a well-known Roman Catholic preacher and a professor at St Mary’s College, New Oscott, Birmingham.

He married Minna F. H. Reavely, the daughter of Thomas George Wood Reavely, at Kinnersley Castle in 1872. They had one son, George H. Bodley, born in 1874.

Career

George Bodley was articled to the famous architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, a relative by marriage, under whose influence he became imbued with the spirit of the Gothic revival, and he gradually became known as the chief exponent of 14th century English Gothic, and the leading ecclesiastical architect in England. He is regarded as the leader of the resurgence of interest in English and northern European late-medieval design. Noted for his pioneering design work in the Queen Anne revival.[1]

His secular work included the London School Board offices, and in collaboration with Thomas Garner, the new buildings at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Hewell Grange, Worcestershire (for Lord Windsor).

From 1869, he worked in a twenty-eight year partnership with Thomas Garner, designing collegiate buildings in Oxford and Cambridge, country houses and churches throughout the British Isles. In 1906 he designed (with his pupil Henry Vaughan) the cathedral at Washington, D.C., and also provided designs (unexecuted) for Grace Cathedral at San Francisco. The only cathedral completed to his design is St David, Hobart (first design, 1865; revised 1891; building completed 1936). Bodley became acquainted with William Morris in the late 1850s and in the 1860s his commissions for stained glass and ecclesiastical decoration helped to ensure the success of Morris's firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., founded in 1861. Bodley is said also to have designed two of Morris's early wallpapers. By the late 1860s Bodley had become disenchanted with Morris, and for stained glass turned instead to the firm of Burlison and Grylls, founded in 1868, for the majority of the glass in his later churches, notably St Augustine, Pendlebury (designed 1870) and Holy Angels, Hoar Cross, Staffordshire (designed 1871-72). Bodley also worked with his lifelong friend, the stained glass designer C E Kempe, also from Brighton. They collaborated on a number of projects including: St John the Baptist, Tuebrook in Liverpool; Queens' College Chapel, Cambridge; All Saints, Danehill, East Sussex and Clumber Park Chapel in Nottinghamshire.[1]

In 1874, Bodley founded the firm of Watts and Co. together with his partners Thomas Garner and George Gilbert Scott, Jr..[1]

In 1902, Bodley was one of the assessors for the competition to design the new Anglican cathedral in Liverpool, selecting the design by the young Giles Gilbert Scott. When construction of the cathedral began in 1904, Bodley was appointed to oversee Gilbert Scott's work, but had no direct part in its design.

Bodley’s final architectural accomplishment was the design of the chapel at Bedford School, England, the foundation stone of which was laid on 18 May 1907 by Lord St John of Bletso. Building work took only a year, the consecration of the chapel taking place in July 1908, by which time the architect had died.

Bodley began contributing to the Royal Academy in 1854, and in 1881 was elected A.R.A., becoming RA in 1902. In addition to being a most learned master of architecture, he was a beautiful draughtsman, and a connoisseur in art; he published a volume of poems in 1899, inspiring art works by painters such as John Melhuish Strudwick; and he was a designer of wallpaper and chintzes for Watts & Co., of Baker Street, London. He served as prime warden of the Fishmongers' Company in 1901–2. In early life he had been in close alliance with the Pre-Raphaelites, and he did a great deal, like William Morris, to improve public taste in domestic decoration and furniture.[1]

George Bodley died on 21 October 1907 at Water Eaton near Oxford and is buried in the church yard of St James' Church, Kinnersley, Herefordshire.

Gallery

Works

New churches

Church repairs, alterations and furnishings

Secular buildings

References

  1. ^ a b c d , he was also an important early patron of William Morris. The Churches Conservation Trust (2007-07-01). "George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907)". Bodley & Kempe Centenary: A celebration of Victorian church art and design. http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/uploads/publications/90.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 
  2. ^ Newman & Pevsner, 1972, page 334

Sources