Guy Dawber

Sir Edward Guy Dawber
Born 3 August 1861
King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, U.K.
Died 24 April 1938
London, England, U.K.
Occupation Architect
Awards RIBA Gold Medal, 1928, RA
Buildings Eyford Park
Projects Batsford Park
Chapel of St John the Baptist

Sir Edward Guy Dawber, RA (King's Lynn, 1861 London, 1938) was an English architect working in the late Arts and Crafts style, whose work is particularly associated with the Cotswolds.

Biography

Nether Swell Manor
Reptile House entrance, London Zoo

Edward Guy Dawber was born in Britain in 1861, at King's Lynn, Norfolk, the son of John Stockdale Dawber (d. 1898) and his wife Lois Ellen (née Edwards). He trained in the practice of Sir Ernest George and Harold Peto, supervising their work on Batsford Park (1887–93), near Moreton-in-Marsh, in the Cotswolds.

In 1896 he married Mary Eccles in Lancashire.

In 1897 Dawber designed St John the Baptist's Chapel, Matlock Bath in Matlock Dale, Derbyshire, when he lived locally. It was the only church designed by him.[1]

Working in the Cotswold vernacular tradition, Dawber became a respected and scholarly architect, designing and converting houses such as Nether Swell Manor (1903 and 1909) and Eyford Park (1911–12), both near Stow-on-the-Wold. In 1905 Batsford published Dawber's Old Cottages, Farm-houses and other Stone Buildings in the Cotswold District.

He also specialised in laying out and designing gardens.

From 1925 to 1927 Dawber was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1928 he was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

In 1926 he played a prominent part in establishing the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, and became its first President. In that year he worked on the design of the Reptile House at London Zoo, Regent's Park, opened in 1927.

About 1928 he designed many buildings of Lord Wandsworth College, Hampshire.

He was knighted in 1936.

He died in London on 24 April 1938; he is buried at St Giles's church with his parents and brother.

Dawber also painted in watercolour.

References

Further reading