William Henry White (29 January 1838 – 20 October 1896) was a British

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 ...

, as well as 18 years secretary 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 ...

Early career

On the completion of his articles in London with George Morgan, he crossed the Channel, and, after a short term in the office of a French architect, established himself in Paris. He met influential clients, who commissioned him renovation of old chateaus including Château de Bizy ( fr) and Château de Martinvast ( fr). At the time, White received an architect pupil, Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinvile. Following the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, White returned to Britain and found a new job in India through his father's connections, entering the Public Works Department of the Indian Government. He designed several important buildings in India, including the Court of Small Causes at Calcutta (illustrated in ''

The Builder ''Building'' is one of the United Kingdom's oldest business-to-business magazines, launched as ''The Builder'' in 1843 by Joseph Aloysius Hansom – architect of Birmingham Town Hall and designer of the Hansom Cab. The journal was renamed ''Bu ...

'', 23 March 1878), the Monument to Chief Justice Sir John Norman (assassinated 1871), and the Presidency College. After travelling in India and on the Continent, White returned to London and took up journalistic work, contributing articles to ''The Builder''. About this time he was appointed the Examiner in Architecture at the

Royal Indian Engineering College The Royal Indian Engineering College (or RIEC) was a British college of Civil Engineering run by the India Office to train civil engineers for service in the Indian Public Works Department. It was located on the Cooper's Hill estate, near Egham, ...

, Cooper's Hill, a post be occupied for about two years.

RIBA Secretaryship

The Secretaryship of this Royal Institute became vacant in 1878 through the retirement of

Charles Eastlake Charles Locke Eastlake (11 March 1836 – 20 November 1906) was a British architect and furniture designer. His uncle, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake PRA (born in 1793), was a Keeper of the National Gallery, from 1843 to 1847, and from 1855 its fi ...

, the present Keeper and Secretary of the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. White gained the post, and served his time eighteen years—an era in the progress of the Institute marked by increased influence at home and abroad, and a necessarily more extended system of administration.

Works

In 1892, he published "The Architect and his artists, an essay to assist the public in considering the question is architecture a profession or an art", in reply to "Architecture, a Profession or an Art" edited by

Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

and T. G. Jackson. This had been part of the course of events which resulted in the passing of the

Architects (Registration) Acts, 1931 to 1938 The Architects (Registration) Acts, 1931 to 1938 is the statutory citation for three Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament, namely: * Architects (Registration) Act 1931; * Architects (Registration) Act 1934; and * Architects Registration Act 1938 ...

which established the statutory

Register of Architects From 1932 there has been a statutory Register of Architects under legislation of the United Kingdom Parliament originally enacted in 1931. The originating Act contained ancillary provisions for entering an architect’s name in the register and re ...

and

monopolistic A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a spec ...

restrictions on the use of the

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

word "

", imposed with threat of

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

for infringement. The keeping of the Register of Architects is now governed by the

Architects Act 1997 The Architects Act 1997 (c. 22) is the consolidating Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the keeping and publishing of the statutory Register of Architects by the Architects Registration Board. It has the long title: ''An Act to cons ...

, and the name of the body responsible for the Register has been changed from the Architects' Registration Council of the United Kingdom (ARCUK) to the Architects Registration Board (ARB).

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:White, William Henry 1838 births 1896 deaths Registration of architects in the United Kingdom Architects from Sussex People from Heathfield, East Sussex Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects British expatriates in France British expatriates in India