Thomas Rickman Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...

(1776–1841) was a self-taught English architect who practised in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. His major output consisted of new churches, most of which were in

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. He also restored and made additions and alterations to churches, and worked on other designs, including

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

s, public buildings, schools, and banks. Rickman was born in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. He trained in medicine and practised in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, from 1801 to 1803, but did not continue in this career, working in London with a corn factor, and then moving to

in 1808 to work as an insurance clerk. During this time he had begun to take an interest in

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

architecture. While in Liverpool he met John Cragg, the owner of an iron foundry, and with him designed three churches. using

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

for both their construction and decoration. He then worked with John Slater in the redesign of

Scarisbrick Hall Scarisbrick Hall is a country house situated just to the south-east of the village of Scarisbrick in Lancashire, England. History Scarisbrick Hall was the ancestral home of the Scarisbrick family and dates back to the time of King Stephen (113 ...

. In 1817 he opened an architectural office in Liverpool, and the following year he was joined by

Henry Hutchinson Henry Hutchinson (16 October 1800 – 22 November 1831) was an English architect who partnered with Thomas Rickman in December 1821 to form the Rickman and Hutchinson architecture practice, in which he stayed until his death in 1831. Hutchinson ...

, initially as a pupil, and from 1821 as a partner. Meanwhile, in 1817 he published the first edition of ''An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture''. () In this he divided English architecture into styles that have continued to be accepted since, namely

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, Early English, Decorated, and

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

. Rickman then became involved with the Church Commissioners, designing, with others, a series of churches that have become to be known as

Commissioners' church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied ...

es, the first of his being St George's Church in

. He opened an office in that city in 1820, and moved there with Hutchinson the following year, where he spent the rest of his career. At about this time he was appointed as architect to

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified ...

, and shortly after this he started work with Hutchinson on what was to become his major commission,

New Court New Court (also known as The Rothschild Headquarters) is a collection of proximate buildings in London having served as the global headquarters of the Rothschild & Co, Rothschild investment bank since 1809. The current building is the fourth inca ...

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

. In 1830 he was elected to the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

, thus acknowledging his acceptance into the profession. Hutchinson died in 1831, and during that year R. C. Hussey joined the practice, becoming a partner in 1835. Rickman died from liver disease in 1841. This list includes details of works on non-ecclesiastical buildings by Thomas Rickman.

Key

Churches

References

;Bibliography * * * * {{refend * Rickman, Thomas

Key

Churches

See also

References