George Wilkinson, FRIBA was an English architect, who practised largely in Ireland. He was born at

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

in 1814. He was the elder brother of the architect William Wilkinson (1819–1901), who practised in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Career

George Wilkinson won a competition in 1835 to design a

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

for the

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

Poor Law Union. The building was until 2004 a campus of

Oxford and Cherwell Valley College Activate Learning is an education and training group based in Oxford. It runs schools, further education colleges and work-based training across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey, and delivers higher-education and international study programmes ...

. Wilkinson went on to design a total of two dozen workhouses in England, including those at

Northleach Northleach is a market town and former civil parish, now in parish Northleach with Eastington, in the Cotswold district, in Gloucestershire, England. The town is in the valley of the River Leach in the Cotswolds, about northeast of Cirencester ...

(1835)

Stow-on-the-Wold Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman origin. The town was found ...

(1836) and

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

(1836–1837), each with wings laid out in an H-plan. Wilkinson built

Tenbury Tenbury Wells (locally Tenbury) is a market town and civil parish in the northwestern extremity of the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Its northern border adjoins Shropshire, and at the 2011 census it had a population of 3,777. ...

workhouse (1837) on a double courtyard plan. For two workhouses,

(1835–1836) and

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...

(1836), he used an unusual design of a

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltator ...

of four wings radiating from an octagonal central block. For

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

he adapted this layout to six wings. In 1839 George Wilkinson was invited to Ireland as the architect of the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

Commission. Wilkinson published a ''Practical Geology and Ancient Architecture of Ireland'' (1845). He also designed the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Multyfarnham Multyfarnham or Multyfarnam () is a village in County Westmeath, Ireland. History First founded in 1268, the Franciscan monastery at Multyfarnham is still home to a community of friars. During the English conquest of Ireland in the 17th cent ...

Co. Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

, an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

station at

Crossdoney Crossdoney () is a village and townland in County Cavan, Ireland. The village is on the R154 regional road where it terminates at a junction with the R198. Peculiarly, all buildings in the village sit on one side of the road, and this gives ri ...

in Co. Cavan (c. 1855), the Cavan town terminus (1862) for the

Midland Great Western Railway The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the MGWR had a network of , making it Irela ...

, and

Harcourt Street Railway Station Harcourt Street railway station is a former railway terminus in Dublin. The station opened in 1859 and served as the terminus of the line from Dublin to Bray in County Wicklow. It closed in 1958 following the closure of the Harcourt Street l ...

, Dublin, (1858–1859) for the Dublin Wicklow and Wexford Railway. Wilkinson married Mary Clinch in Witney on 18 December 1850. Mary was a daughter of

John Williams Clinch Clinch Brewery is an English brewery, located in the town of Witney, Oxfordshire. It was founded by James Clinch around 1811. History Early history In about 1811, John Clinch, a prominent Witney banker and landowner, and his son James Clinch p ...

(1788–1871) the Witney brewer, banker and landowner. He was made a Fellow 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 ...

in 1878. Wilkinson retired to England in about 1888, and died at Ryde House, Twickenham on 4 October 1890.

References

Sources

* * s.v. "George Wilkinson" * *

External links

The Workhouse: George Wilkinson (1814–90)Tenbury Workhouse website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, George 1814 births 1880 deaths 19th-century English architects Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Architects from Oxfordshire People from Witney Irish Poor Laws