Monsignor John Hawes (7 September 1876, Richmond, England – 26 June 1956, Miami, Florida) was an architect and priest.
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He began training as an architect in London in 1892. In 1903 he was ordained an Anglican priest, after which he worked in The Bahamas. He later converted to Roman Catholicism and was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome on 27 February 1915, after which he was sent to Geraldton, Western Australia where he worked as a both a priest and an architect. In May 1939, Hawes sailed from Fremantle to The Bahamas, officially on a pilgrimage. Living in The Bahamas as a hermit, he died on 26 June 1956 in Miami, Florida, aged 79 and at his own request was buried in a cave located beneath his hermitage on Cat Island.[1]
Monsignor Hawes' architectural work in the Mid West region of Western Australia is renowned. He was appointed Diocesan Architect and designed:
The Monsignor Hawes Heritage Trail is a tourist route which visits many of these buildings, some of which he also built.[3]
He also designed the Anglican Church of S. Christopher, in Gunnerton a small village in the North Tyne valley, Northumberland.[4] The building has recently been restored and now boasts a fine stained glass window by William Tillyer in the west end.