Matthew Brettingham the Younger (1725 – 18 March 1803) was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was the eldest son of Matthew Brettingham the Elder and worked also in

Palladian style Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

. He travelled to Italy in 1747, where he purchased sculptures and artwork for his British patrons, including Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester. He returned to England in 1754. One of his patrons,

Frederick North, Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most o ...

, made him President of the Board of Green Cloth. North and Brettingham had met as young men in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The value of the appointment fell after the passage of the

Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782 The Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782 (22 Geo. III, c. 82) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The power over the expenditure in the King's household was transferred to the Treasury, and branches of which were regulated. N ...

, and North appointed Brettingham deputy revenue collector of the

Cinque Ports The Confederation of Cinque Ports () is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to th ...

, an office which yielded an income of several hundred pounds a year. His architectural practice was largely restricted to working for his father until 1769, when his father died, and after that it was limited in scope. In the words of

Howard Colvin Sir Howard Montagu Colvin (15 October 1919 – 27 December 2007) was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field: ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840' ...

, "the income derived from his sinecures seems largely to have relieved Brettingham from the need to develop an extensive architectural practice."Colvin, Howard (1995) ''ABiographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840'': Third Edition, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, , p. 158

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brettingham, Matthew 1725 births 1803 deaths 18th-century English architects 19th-century English people