Walter Knight Shirley, 11th Earl Ferrers

FRIBA 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 ...

(5 June 1864 – 2 February 1937) was a British architect and

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

Early life and education

Ferrers was the second but only surviving son of

Rev Rev, REV or Rév may refer to: Abbreviations Rev. * Rev., an abbreviation for revolution, as in Revolutions per minute * Rev., an abbreviation for the religious style The Reverend * Rev., the abbreviation for Runtime Revolution, a development en ...

Walter Waddington Shirley (d. 1866) and his wife Philippa Knight. He was born at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

where his father was Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History and

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, where he received a BA in 1887.

Career

Ferrers entered the profession of architecture and was

articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulate ...

Basil Champneys Basil Champneys (17 September 1842 – 5 April 1935) was an English architect and author whose most notable buildings include Manchester's John Rylands Library, Somerville College Library (Oxford), Newnham College, Cambridge, Lady Margaret Ha ...

. Part of the

Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

, he was an active member of the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the Victorian restoration, destructive 'restoration' of ancient bu ...

and 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 al ...

, being elected Master in 1918. He designed a large addition to 35 Victoria Road,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

in 1896. His obituary described him as "a most conscientious architect...over-exacting, if anything, in his own work". In 1912, Ferrers succeeded his childless fourth cousin

Sewallis Shirley, 10th Earl Ferrers Sewallis Edward Shirley, 10th Earl Ferrers KStJ (24 January 1847 – 26 July 1912), styled Viscount Tamworth until 1859, was a British hereditary peer. Early life and education Ferrers was the elder son of Washington Sewallis Shirley, 9th Earl Fe ...

in the earldom, and largely retired from architecture to tend the family estates.

Marriage and children

On 9 July 1890 Ferrers married Mary Jane Moon (d. 10 Jan 1944), daughter of the barrister Robert Moon and the sister of Edward Robert Pacy Moon. They had had five children:Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003 *

Lady ''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is al ...

Margery Joan Shirley (25 November 1891 – 1 June 1952), married Lancelot Sackville Fletcher on 22 September 1920 * Elizabeth Mary Shirley (30 December 1892 – 9 November 1893) * Robert Walter Shirley, 12th Earl Ferrers (1894–1954) * Lady Phillida Shirley (4 November 1896 – 26 December 1985), under the name of Sister Mary Phillida a

recluse A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion and solitude. The word is from the Latin , which means 'to open' or 'disclose'. Examples of recluses are Symeon of Trier, who lived within the great Roman gate Porta Nigra with permissio ...

at the Anglican shrine to

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus, venerated by Catholics and high-church Anglicans. According to tradition, the title is linked to a Marian vision experienced in 1061 by Lady Richeldis de Faverches, an Angl ...

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People Given name * Cho Hŏn (1544–1592), Joseon militia leader * Ho Hon (1885–1951), North Korean politician Surname * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French fo ...

Andrew Shirley (29 December 1900 – 20 June 1958), married Ethel Muriel Lewis on 30 April 1927 and had issue, art historian

Death

Lord Ferrers died at the family seat, Staunton Harold Hall, in 1937 at the age of 72 and was succeeded in the earldom by his elder son,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

References

External links

*
Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrers, Walter Shirley, 11th Earl 1864 births 1937 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford Shirley, Walter Knight 11 People educated at Winchester College Architects from Oxford Masters of the Art Worker's Guild Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects