Guy Dawber Explained

Sir Edward Guy Dawber
Birth Date:3 August 1861
Birth Place:King's Lynn, Norfolk, England
Death Place:London, England
Significant Buildings:Eyford Park
Significant Projects:Batsford Park
Awards:RIBA Gold Medal, 1928, RA

Sir Edward Guy Dawber, RA (King's Lynn, 3 August 1861  - London, 24 April 1938) was an English architect working in the late Arts and Crafts style, whose work is particularly associated with the Cotswolds.

Biography

Edward Guy Dawber was born in Britain in 1861, at King's Lynn, Norfolk, the son of a merchant.[1] 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.[1] In 1896 he married Mary Eccles in Lancashire.[1]

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. Dawber designed the Old Post Office at 25 High Street, Broadway, Worcestershire, which was built in Cotswold stone by Espley & Co of Evesham in 1899 and opened on Friday 1 December 1899.[2] He also designed Bibsworth House, Broadway. Dawber sometimes also worked on the landscaping of the estates on which his houses were built, for example at Eyford Park in Gloucestershire.[3]

Working in the Cotswold vernacular tradition,[4] 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. From 1925 to 1927 Dawber was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1928 he was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.[1] 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.[5] About 1928 he designed many buildings of Lord Wandsworth College, Hampshire.[4]

He was knighted in 1936 and died in London on 24 April 1938.[1] He is buried at St Giles's church with his parents and brother.

Works

War memorials

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sir Guy Dawber. Dictionary of Scottish Architects. 22 February 2021. 25 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201125075456/http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=203314. dead.
  2. Evesham Standard & West Midland Observer, Saturday 9 December 1899.
  3. Web site: Eyford Park. January 1910 .
  4. Web site: Architects Contemporary with Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens Trust. 22 February 2021.
  5. Web site: History of the Reptile House. Zoological Society of London. 22 February 2021.
  6. Web site: Conkwell Grange, Conkwell, Wiltshire. 31 August 2016 . House and Heritage. 4 July 2022.
  7. Web site: Burdocks A Grade II Listed Building in Fairford, Gloucestershire . British Listed Buildings . 26 June 2023.
  8. Book: The Builder. 1921. 674.