Benedict Williamson

Benedict Williamson (1868—1948) was an architect who designed many Romanesque Revival churches in the United Kingdom who later became a Roman Catholic priest.

Early life

He was born in 1868 as William Edward in London. He studied law for a time and then went on to train as an architect in the office of Newman & Jacques, architects and surveyors in Stratford. In 1896, he was received into the Catholic church in the Church of the Immaculate Conception run by the Jesuits in Mayfair. There he took the name Benedict Williamson.[1]

Architect

For the next ten years he practiced as an architect, being in a partnership with John Henry Foss calling the business Williamson & Foss.[2]

In 1903, he did extension work for St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough. He designed the tower in the style of the Solesmes Abbey. The design was for four towers, which were to overshadow the red-brick house, but the First World War put an end to construction.[3]

In 1906, he designed the Church of St Boniface in Tooting for the Archdiocese of Southwark. The original inspiration for the church came from Tre Fontane Abbey, but he progressed away from the prototype plan. The foundation stone was laid on 17 November 1906 and the church, still unfinished, was opened for worship on 18 April 1907.[4] It was the last church he designed before going to Rome, because that year he entered the Beda College in Rome where he studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1909 for the Archdiocese of Southwark.[4]

He still continued to do architectural work while he was a priest. In 1911, he did work for the Jesuits, designing St Ignatius Church in Stamford Hill, London.[5] Five years later, he was the architect for the Diocese of Northampton, designing Sacred Heart Church, in Southwold, Suffolk.[6]

After the First World War, in 1922, he was behind the building of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Fulham, London. At the time he was inspired by the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb that year and incorporated Egyptian patterns into the interior design of the church.[7]

In 1927, in collaboration with his original partner John Foss, he helped with the completion of St Boniface's Church in Tooting, adding a tower, arches and Egyptian designs.[4]

In later life he became a supporter of the Italian leader Benito Mussolini and wrote a book about him A Revolution and its Leader (London, 1930).[8] He died in 1948 at the age of 80 in Rome.[2]

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ Evinson, Denis Catholic Churches of London (Sheffield, 1988), pp. 253-4
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Directory of British Architects, 1834-1914: Vol. 2 (L-Z) ed. Brodie, Antonia (London, 2011) p. 166
  3. ↑ Monastery from Farnborough Abbey, accessed 1 April 2013
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 History from St Boniface Tooting, accessed 1 April 2013
  5. ↑ About the Parish, Stamford Hill Parish site Retrieved 18 January 2013
  6. ↑ Southwold from Suffolk Churches, accessed 1 April 2013
  7. ↑ History from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, accessed 1 April 2013
  8. ↑ Books from Biblio.com retrieved 18 April 2013