Robert Williams (architect)
Robert Williams | |
---|---|
Born | Ystradowen, Glamorgan, Wales | January 27, 1848
Died | October 16, 1918 | (aged 70)
Occupation | Architect |
Robert Williams (27 January 1848 – 16 October 1918) was a Welsh architect and social campaigner. Born in South Wales, he studied architecture in London and established a practice there in 1887. Williams' work showed a Gothic Revival influence and included public and educational buildings in Wales and London including Wheatsheaf Hall and Cowbridge Girls School. From 1914 he practised in Egypt, constructing Cairo's largest shop for the Davies Bryan Company, as well as a number of other commercial and public buildings.
Williams was a member of the Independent Labour Party and sat on the executive committees of the Land Nationalisation Society and the London Reform Union. He was elected a London County Council councillor in 1901 and advocated for more stringent housing standards. Williams wrote several books on housing and advocated for internal toilets at a time when outdoor privies were the norm. His daughter Margaret Travers Symons was also a social campaigner and suffragette.
Early life
Williams was born in
Williams was married to Margaret Griffiths and the couple had two children, Inigo Rees (born in Llantrisant in 1876) and Margaret Ann (born in Paddington in 1879). By 1881, when Williams was living in Coggeshall in Essex, his wife had died. He remarried in 1883 to Elizabeth Ann Kettle, at Braintree.[1]
Architecture
Williams took an unusual route to entering the profession. Rather than being articled to an architect's design office he worked on site as a clerk of works for James Piers St Aubyn and Maurice Bingham Adams. For Adams Williams supervised improvements to the Marquess of Lothian's Blickling Hall. Afterwards Williams worked for Waller, Son & Wood of Gloucester.[1]
Williams was admitted to the Royal Institute of British Architects as an associate in 1887, allowing him to set up his own practice in London. His principal work was in public structures and educational institutions. He carried out several commissions in his native South Wales, including Pontypool Market Hall (1893–94), Cowbridge Girls School (1895–96) and Pontypool and District Hospital (1903). Works in London include the Wheatsheaf Hall, Vauxhall (1896) and the People's Hall, West Kensington (1901). His work shows a Gothic Revival influence, though with an emphasis on amenity.[1]
From 1914 Williams practised in Cairo, Egypt. He was drawn there by a commission for the Welsh-owned
Williams designed several other prominent buildings in Egypt such as the Bible House in Port Said, the soldiers' home and Marconi Tower in Cairo and banks in Port Said and Tanta. He wrote Notes on the English Bond, intended as an educational book for local masons and published in English, French and Arabic.[1]
Social campaigning
Williams was a fervent socialist and counted Keir Hardie and Frank Smith as friends. Williams' daughter, Margaret Travers Symons, became Hardie's secretary. A suffragette she became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons after bursting into the chamber during a debate.[1]
Williams stood unsuccessfully for a seat as county councillor for Woolwich in the 1898 London County Council election.[3] He was successful in winning a seat at Lambeth North in the 1901 London County Council election, representing the Progressive Party.[4] As a councillor Williams pressed for the LCC to adopt more stringent housing standards. Williams was a member of the Independent Labour Party and sat on the executive committees of the Land Nationalisation Society and the London Reform Union.[3]
Williams published a series of booklets on the living conditions of the poor and on building reform. He lamented the poor living conditions of miners, despite the fortunes made by the mine owners. Williams published a book, The Collier's House or Every Collier his own Architect, in 1893 (in English and Welsh) containing drawings showing improved housing for coal miners, particularly in the
Other interests
Williams was also a member of the
Williams was widely travelled in Europe, Asia and North Africa. He maintained a collection of architecture books, that now forms the core of the architecture rare book collection at Cardiff University.[1]
Williams died on 16 October 1918 in Cairo and is buried in the city's Protestant Cemetery.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "WILLIAMS, ROBERT (1848 - 1918), architect, author and social reformer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-78491-628-2. Archivedfrom the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-317-01833-9. Archivedfrom the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- ^ Who's who Year-book for ... A. & C. Black, Limited. 1904. p. 43. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.