Sir Ernest George (13 June 1839 – 8 December 1922) was a British architect, landscape and

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

watercolourist, and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

Life and work

Born in London, Ernest George began his architectural training in 1856, under Samuel Hewitt, coupled with studies at the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

1857–59. After a short period in the office of Allen Boulnois, he went on a sketching tour of France and Germany, which inspired him to the architectural style that would make him famous."The Architecture of Sir Ernest George"
''Times Higher Education'', 7 July 2011. Linked 2017-02-06 On his return to London, he set up an architectural practice in 1861 with Thomas Vaughan. They had their breakthrough in 1869, when George was contacted by the tea and spice importer and Member of Parliament Henry Peek (son of James Peek, who started the biscuit business Peak Frean & Co). He was about to buy the village of

Rousdon Rousdon is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Combpyne Rousdon, in the East Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is off the A3052 road between Colyford and Lyme Regis in Dorset. In 1931 the parish had a popu ...

in Devon, and wanted George to build him a large mansion house south of the village, plus several other buildings. This complex became eventually known as the Rousdon Estate, and from 1930 to 1998 the George-designed mansion house served as the private boarding school

Allhallows College Allhallows College, previously known as Allhallows School, was an independent public school for boys in Devon, in the west of England. Predominantly a boarding school, but with some day boys, it was founded in Honiton about 1515, moved to a new ...

. Vaughn suddenly died in 1869, forcing George to find another partner. He chose the young

Harold Peto Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA (11 July 1854 – 16 April 1933) was a British architect, landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France. Among his best-known gardens are Iford Manor, Wiltshire; Buscot P ...

, mainly because of the Peto family's vast contact network in the building industry. During this partnership, George designed houses in London for the

Cadogan Estate Cadogan Group Limited and its subsidiaries, including Cadogan Estates Limited, are British property investment and management companies that are owned by the Cadogan family, one of the richest families in the United Kingdom, which also holds ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. In 1881 they designed Stoodleigh Court at Tiverton for Thomas Carew. In 1891 they designed an extension to

West Dean House West Dean House is a large flint-faced manor house situated in West Dean, West Sussex, near the historic City of Chichester. This country estate has approximately of land and dates back to 1086, with various royal connections throughout the ye ...

for

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, creating the Oak Room, now Oak Hall, in West Dean College. In 1891, Harold Peto decided to leave London for health reasons, and to devote more time to his interests in garden design, at which point George made a former pupil, Alfred Bowman Yeates, his new partner. In New Zealand, which he never visited, he designed the Theomin family house

Olveston Olveston is a small village and larger parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The parish comprises the villages of Olveston and Tockington, and the hamlets of Old Down, Ingst and Awkley. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 2, ...

, in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, which was built in 1904–07. He was also responsible for the current

Southwark Bridge Southwark Bridge ( ) is an arch bridge in London, for traffic linking the district of Southwark and the City across the River Thames. Besides when others are closed for temporary repairs, it has the least traffic of the Thames bridges in Lond ...

(1921), and the

Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice is a public monument in Postman's Park in the City of London, commemorating ordinary people who died saving the lives of others and who might otherwise have been forgotten. It was first proposed by painter a ...

in London's

Postman's Park Postman's Park is a public garden in central London, a short distance north of St Paul's Cathedral. Bordered by Little Britain, Aldersgate Street, St. Martin's Le Grand, King Edward Street, and the site of the former headquarters of the General ...

. He served as president of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

from 1908 to 1910. Ernest George's London office was nicknamed "The

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

of architects", and the 79 pupils included

Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...

Guy Dawber 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 ...

John Bradshaw Gass John Bradshaw Gass (18 June 1855, Annan – 3 July 1939) was a Scottish architect and artist. Hs was a nephew of J. J. Bradshaw, the founder of Bradshaw Gass & Hope, and received the Ashbury Prize for Civil Engineering at Owens College, later ...

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

and

Ethel Charles Ethel Mary Charles (25 March 1871 – 8 April 1962) was a British architect, the first woman to be admitted to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1898. Early life Ethel Charles, her sister Bessie Ada Charles (1869–1932) ...

. Ethel Charles was the first woman to be elected a member of the

. George died in London at 71 Palace Court, Bayswater, in 1922, aged 83, and was cremated at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

, of which he and Alfred Yeates had been the architects, and where the Ernest George

Columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "'' colu ...

is named for him. George's residence at 17 Bartholomew Street,

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

, is commemorated with a Southwark Council

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

Buildings by Ernest George

* Rousdon House (for Sir Henry Peek of Peek Freans; became Allhallows School in 1938)

, Devon (1870) * 1–8 Collingham Gardens,

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

, London (1881–84) * Shiplake College,

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, 1890 * 4 & 6 Thornlaw Road,

West Norwood West Norwood is a largely residential area of south London within the London Borough of Lambeth, located 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south south-east of Charing Cross. The centre of West Norwood sits in a bowl surrounded by hillsides on its east, ...

, London (1882) * Ossington Coffee Tavern, Newark on Trent (1882) * Shockerwick House,

Bathford Bathford (pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable) is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England. The parish, which includes Warleigh, has a population of 1,759 and extends over . History The ancient charter ''Codex Diplomat ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, including wings, lodge and "The Clock House" (1896) * Cawston Manor Water Tower

Cawston, Norfolk Cawston is a village and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. The village is approximately north of Norwich on the B1145 road, a route which runs between King's Lynn and Mundesley. Nearby towns are Reepham and Aylsha ...

(1897) designed further by architect John Bennett RIBA of Southwold into residence for David & Jennifer Forster. *

, London (1902) *

Eynsham Hall Eynsham Hall is a Grade II listed mansion near North Leigh in Oxfordshire, England. The original house dating from the 1770s was largely rebuilt in the early 20th century by Ernest George. After use as a country house and venue for hunting part ...

, Oxfordshire (1904–08) *

, New Zealand, for David Theomin (1903) * Ruckley Grange,

Tong, Shropshire Tong is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is located between the towns of Shifnal, Newport and Brewood. It is near junction 3 of the M54 motorway and A41 road. The population of the village which was included in the civil ...

(1904) * Bushridge Hall,

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

(1906) * Crathorne Hall,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

(1906–09) *

Putteridge Bury Putteridge Bury is a country house on the edge of the built-up area of Luton, Bedfordshire, England but located just over the county boundary in the parish of Offley in Hertfordshire. Mansion The mansion was built in the style of Chequers by a ...

, Lilley,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

(1911) *

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, London (1911)

Painting

*George painted in England, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany and Italy. *An album with pencil-sketches of townscapes in Ostend, Belgium, is kept in the Kunstmuseum aan Zee there N. Hostyn, Een album met Oostendse schetsen van Sir Ernest George. Een uitzonderlijk iconografisch document voor Oostende, stend on. Oostendse Heem- en Geschiedkundige Kring De Plate

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh *"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6 * '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...

References

External links

The Lychgate, West Wickham Church
(1864 watercolour)

(etching, c. 1880)
San Gimignano
(1882 watercolour)
The Rousdon Estate website
{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Ernest 1839 births 1922 deaths 19th-century English male artists 19th-century English painters 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters Architects from London English landscape painters English male painters English watercolourists Golders Green Crematorium Knights Bachelor Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Royal Academicians

Life and work

Buildings by Ernest George

Painting

Further reading

References

External links