William Bainbridge Reynolds (London, 6 March 1855 – Brighton, 31 March 1935) was a British art metal worker and an architect who was active from 1870 to 1932. Reynolds was born in the

Duke of York's Royal Military School The Duke of York's Royal Military School, more commonly called the Duke of York's, is a co-educational academy (for students aged 11 to 18) with military traditions in Guston, Kent. Since becoming an academy in 2010, the school is now sponsor ...

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 ...

, where his father was a math professor. At the age of sixteen, he was articled to the ecclesiastical architect

George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccle ...

, prominent in the Arts and Crafts movement particularly interested in metalwork. He subsequently moved to the office of

John Pollard Seddon John Pollard Seddon FRIBA (19 September 1827 – 1 February 1906) was a British architect, working largely on churches. His father was a cabinetmaker, and his brother Thomas Seddon (1821–1856) a landscape painter. Born in London, he was educa ...

, who worked in the

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. There, he befriended

C.F.A. Voysey Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (28 May 1857 – 12 February 1941) was an English architect and furniture and textile designer. Voysey's early work was as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a Arts and Crafts style and he ma ...

, whose designs he later implemented. He then worked for a while for the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

as a draftsman before joining Gardner's metalworks in his late twenties. About this time Reynolds met the architect

Hugh Roumieu Gough Hugh Roumieu Gough FRIBA (1843–1904) was an English architect who practised mainly in the London area. Family Born in Islington, London, he was the son of the architect Alexander Dick Gough (who at the time was working in partnership with Rob ...

who was subsequently to build the church of St Cuthbert's, Philbeach Gardens where Reynolds contributed to the design of the fittings over many years. Voysey, who wrote Reynolds' obituary for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', described him as having 'a profound reverence for ceremonial and symbolism'. His style slowly changed from neo-Gothic to early

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. He became active in the

Art-Workers' Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

which promoted the arts and crafts ideal of integrated art, life, and work. His screen and lectern for St Cuthbert's was described by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

as 'much more playful' than most arts and crafts designers. He set up his own business, eventually creating the Manor House Metal Works, Clapham, describing himself as 'Art Metal Worker and Bronze Founder' in the 1911 census.Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911, RG14PN2256 RG78PN77 RD26 SD4 ED6 SN78 He became very successful and his metalwork features in many cathedrals and churches. His patrons included almost every important architect of the period.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, William Bainbridge 1855 births 1935 deaths 19th-century English architects British metalsmiths 19th-century English artists 20th-century English architects 20th-century English artists People from Chelsea, London Artists from London 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists