Architects, Builders and Surveyors that were living and/or working in Hinckley during the period of 1800-1950. Includes all the Hinckley Local Board surveyors and Hinckley Urban District Council surveyors.
(Names of professionals who described themselves as architects or surveyors are in capitals. Dates are largely drawn from the trades directories, whose reliability is variable. Birth to death dates are included where known.)
A - Architect; B - Builder; BL - Bricklayer; C - Carpenter; Co - Contractor; J - Joiner; S - Surveyor
[P] Photographic portrait appears in Photographic Record and Memento of the Coronation Festivities given… in honour of… King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, 26th-28th June 1902 (W. Pickering & Son, Hinckley, 1902)
ASHBY, William (A, B, C, J, timber merchant) - Bond St (1809-35)
Ayre, Thomas (B, J, furniture broker) - Regent St/The Borough (1870-77)
BALL, Joseph Alfred (A) - 20 Spring Gardens (c. 1860-1902) [P - below]
BALL & HEATON, Joseph Alfred & Arthur Macdonald (A, S) - 3 The Borough (1902-09)
Bassett, Richard (B, C, J) - The Borough/Upper Bond St (1848-70)
Bassett, Thomas (B, J) - 41 Druid St (1877-1900)
Bassett, William (B, cabinet maker) - Castle St (1892)
Billings, John (B, Bl, J) - Derby Rd (1861-63)
Billings, Michael (B, Bl) - Derby Rd (1877)
BILLINGTON, George (A, S to Local Board 1875-) - Coventry Rd/Regent St (1876-81)
Bloxham, Frederick [& Son] (B, Bl) - 1 Charles St/Leicester Rd (1892-1912)
Bloxham, Joseph (B, Bl, Co) - New Buildings (1874-81)
Bloxham, Joseph, jun. (B, C) - Mill View (1884-92)
Bloxham & Farmer (B) - Leicester Rd (1916)
Bloxham & Goadby (B) - Manor St/Rugby Rd (1925-41)
Channelor, William (Bl) - The Borough (1835-40)
Clarke, G. S. (B, Co, J, undertaker) - Mill View (1911)
Clarke & Farmer (B) - 140 Factory Rd (1928-32)
Clarke & Faulkes (B) - Mill Hill Rd (1925-53)
COOK, Frederick Charles (1875-1947) (S to Urban District Council 1900-03)
COOPER, William White (-1893) (S - S to Local Board) - 22 Castle St/The Lawns (1891-93)
CRUMP, Edward Harold (S to Urban District Council 1903-19) - Thornhill, 23 Mount Rd /Regent Chambers, George St (1903-41)
Daffern & Grantham (B, Co) - The Lawns/1 Hill St (1891-92)
DRAKE, Francis Edwin (A) - Bond Sreet, Teign Bank House (1868-1871)
ELLIS WILLIAMS PARTNERSHIP (A) - Station Road (1974-1983)
Everton, W. (B, Co) - 15 Stockwell Head (1911)
Farmer, Harry (B) - Priesthills Rd (1922-25) - see also Bloxham & Farmer (1916)
Farmer, Harry [& Co] (B, C) - 111 Clarendon St (1941)
Farmer, Richard (Bl, J) - Derby Rd (1877)
Farmer, Thomas (B, Bl) - Derby Rd/John St (1874-94)
Farmer Brothers (B) - Chessher St (1941)
Farmer & Ginns, Walter & ___ (B) - 23 Occupation Rd/Chessher St (1925-30)
Farmer & Greaves (B) - 11 Mount Rd (1901-08)
Faulkes, Arthur J. (B) - see Clarke & Faulkes
FEATHERSTON, John Stewart (S and Water Engineer to Urban District Council 1919-50)
Flavell, George (B, Bl, C, Co, J) - The Borough/Market Place/Wood St/112 Castle St (1863-84)
Flavell, John William (B, J, confectioner, undertaker) - 112 Castle St (1891-1901)
Flavell, William Kerr (B, Co) - Wood St and Castle St (1916)
Foxon, Thomas (B, Bl, beer retailer, mineral baths proprietor) - Ashby Rd/Druid St (1876-94)
Foxon, William (B), d. 1930 aged 35
Foxon & Woodcock (B) - The Baths, Ashby Rd (1874)
Freeman, L. & A. (B) - Sunnydale, Coventry Rd (1941)
Garner, John (B, C, J) - 31 Druid St/Trinity Lane/Chessher St (1891-1912) (below)
Garner, Thomas (B) - Chessher St (1864-1934) [P - below]
Ginns, Philip (B) - see Farmer & Ginns
Goadby, A., & Son Ltd. (B) - Trinity Lane (1948-1986) [below]
Goadby, Albert William (B) (of A. Goadby & Son, 1969-1986)
Goadby, John Arthur Redvers (B) (1900-1969. Of Bloxham & Goadby. Founded A. Goadby & Son in 1948.) [below]
Goode, John (B, J) - Stockwell Head (1877-84)
Goode, John Thomas (B, J) - Stockwell Head (1876-77)
Goode, Samuel (B, J) - Stockwell Head (1877)
Goodman, John [& Sons] (B, C, J, shopfitters) - 14 Spencer St (1922-53)
Goodman, Thomas [& Sons] (B, Bl, haberdasher) - Upper Castle St/3 Albert Rd/Spencer St (1877-1916) [P - below]
Goodman, A (B) - 3 Albert Rd (1923)
GOODWIN, George (S to Local Board) - Regent St (1875)
Greaves, George (B, Bl) - 111 Castle St/11 Mount Rd/Hill St/83 Mount Rd/Rugby Rd (1891-1930) [P - below]
Greaves, Isaac (Bl) - Lower Bond St (1874-77)
Greaves, William (Bl) - Stockwell Head/Chapel St (1849-61)
Greaves Brothers (B) - 83 Mount Rd (1925-53)
Hall, John [& Sons] (B, Bl, J, undertakers) - Queens Rd/Duke St (1891-1928) [P]
HANSOM, Joseph Aloysius (A) - Bank House, The Borough (1834-7)
Harrold, John (B, auctioneer etc.) - 14 The Borough/5 Hurst Rd (1908-16)
HARROLD, John & William (B, BL, Co, S, auctioneers, cabinet makers, house and estate agents, shipping agents, undertakers) - 14 The Borough (1874-1902) [P]
HARROLD, Thomas, sen. (B, C, S, cabinet maker, timber merchant) - Chapel St/Castle St (1838-50)
HARROLD, Thomas, jun. & George (B, BL, Co, J, S, auctioneers, brickmakers, cabinet makers, estate agents, upholsterers, valuers - S to Board of Health 1870) - 48-50 Castle St (1862-1911)
Harrold, William (B, J, cabinet maker) - 14 The Borough (1854-70)
HEATON, Arthur Macdonald (A, S) - see BALL & HEATON; HEATON & WALKER
HEATON & WALKER, Arthur Macdonald & Sidney J. (A) - 3 The Borough/Barclays Bank Chambers (1909-73)
Henshaw, L. C. (B) - Sapcote Rd (1953)
Hill, Thomas (B, J) - Wood St (1884)
HOWSE, William Thomas (S to Urban District Council 1893-99) - 22 Castle St; h 68 Derby Rd (1893-1899) (d. 1930)
Ireland, Thomas (B, BL, shopkeeper) - Upper Bond St/Castle St (1850-74)
Ireson, William (BL) - Church St (1831-76)
Jeffcote, Andrew (B, BL, C, Co, painters/decorators) - Druid St/Derby Rd/Druid St/John St/Mill View (off John St) (1886-1953; Ltd. Co. from 1927) [P]
Jones, Herbert J. [& Co.] (B) - 182 Coventry Rd (1941)
Jones, Thomas (B, BL) - Derby Rd/Charles St (1884-1900)
Knight, George (B, BL) - 26 Mansion St (1884)
Lane, John (land surveyor) - Bond St (1822)
Littler, William Henry [& Son] (B, Co, J, undertaker) - 104 Trinity Lane (1891-1932) [P]
Mackey, E. C. (B) - Ashby Rd (1941)
MALTBY, Frederick Allen (A, S to Local Board to 1883) - 7-9 The Borough/20 Church Walk/36/88 Castle St; h 20 The Borough (1884-1911) [P - below]
Mason, John Henry [& Son] (B, Co, general property repairs) - 50 Factory Rd/Cleveland Rd and Mill Hill (1916-53)
Mason, Thomas, jun. - Druid St (1894)
Mason, Thomas, sen. - 63½ Druid St (1892-1900)
Moore, William (B) - 7 Druid St (1901)
Muston, John (B, C, J, turner) - The Borough/Stockwell Head (1849-63)
ORTON, W. T. (A) - Mount Rd (1902) [P - below]
Palmer, Thomas (B, BL) Derby Rd (1876-84)
Payne, J. (B, Co.) - Derby Rd (1911)
Payne, Joseph [& Sons] (B) - St Bernards, Clarendon Rd (1941)
Pearcy, George (BL) - Spring Gardens (1828-1835)
Piercey, J. (BL) - Spring Gardens (1809-11)
PIKE, H. L. (S to Urban Sanitary Authority 1881)
POWERS, John, jun. (S - Asst S to Local Board 1881) - Leicester Rd (1881)
POWERS, Percy (A, S) - Leicester Rd (1908)
RATCLIFFE, Thomas W. (S to Urban District Council 1899-1900)
Rowley, Thomas George (B, Co, C, J) - 54 Derby Rd (1891-1901) [P]
Russell, Arthur [& Sons] (B, C, painters, undertakers) - Albert Rd (1928-41)
SCHOFIELD, H. (S) - asst surveyor to Hinckley UDC 1930
Sear, E. A. (B, C, plumbers, painters/decorators) - 65 Stockwell Head (1953)
Simmonds, Richard Henry (B) - New Rd/Hawley Rd (1928-41)
Simpson, Thomas (B, J) - Factory Rd (1884)
Sutton¸ Ernest (B, C, J, undertaker) - The Lawns/20 Regent St/24 Hill St; wks Orchard St (1895-1902) [P]
Topp & Crofts (B) - Park St and 13 Southfield Rd (1941)
WALKER, Sidney John (A) - see HEATON & WALKER
Waring, Charles (BL) - Upper Bond St (1840-62)
Waring, Thomas (BL) - Bond St (1809-11)
Warren, Mark (B, BL) - 27 Druid St (1895-1900)
WELLS, Josias (A) - c.1887
WIGG, John (A) - 33 Castle St (Mondays); h Leicester (1895-1911) [below]
Woodcock, Benjamin (BL) - Bond St/Wood St/Mansion St (1809-81) (see also under Foxon)
Woodcock, Benjamin (B, Co) - Rugby Rd (1900) [P - below]
Woodcock, John (BL, slater) - Trinity Lane (1849-62)
Wright, James (B, J, greengrocer) - 9 Stockwell Head (1884)
SURVEYORS, where known
1868 Francis Edwin Drake
1870 Thomas Harrold
c.1871-1874 _____ Hankins (1873 - Joseph Lilley temp.)
1875 George Goodwin
1875-1877 George Billington
1881- H. L. Pike
Aug 1883 Frederick Allen Maltby
1891-1893 William White Cooper; (asst - John Powers jun., 1891)
Oct 1893- 1895 William T. Howse
ENGINEERS & SURVEYORS
Jan. 1895 William T. Howse
Nov 1899 Thomas W. Ratcliffe
July 1900 Frederick C. Cook
Feb 1903 Edward Harold Crump, AMICE, FSI
Aug 1919 John Stewart Featherston, MIM, CyE
April 1950 Henry Montague Etherington
Aug 1971 Brian Arnold Fell
JOSEPH ALFRED BALL. 'After half a century in the profession, Mr. Joseph Ball, of the firm of Ball and Heaton, architects, of The Borough, Hinckley, is retiring from the business this week. Mr. S. J. Walker, who has been with the firm for several years as assistant, is joining Mr. Heaton, and the business will in future be carried on under the style of Heaton and Walker' (Hinckley Times, 27 March 1909).
GEORGE BILLINGTON. 'Mr. William [sic] Billington, South-Shield road, Acton, a candidate for the appointment of surveyor, attended the [Local] Board and answered many inquiries as to the duties, and what he would have to do for £80 a year, subject to a month's notice. This candidate received the appointment, and was told that he would be expected to commence his duties on Monday next' (Leicester Journal, 19 Feb 1875).
SIR FREDERICK CHARLES COOK. On a visit to Hinckley by the Leicestershire Surveyors Association in 1930, the Leicester City Engineer, A. C. Gooseman, stated that 'Major F. C. Cook, a former surveyor of Hinckley, was now looked upon as one of the leading engineers in the country' (Hinckley Times, 26 Sept 1930). Born in 1875, the son of C. C. Cook of Worthing, he married Amelia May, daughter of G. F. Bult, with whom he had three sons. He was articled to Miles Aspinall, civil engineer, and subsequently held various civil engineering posts in local government (including that of Surveyor to Hinckley U.D.C.). (He served in the Royal Engineers during the 1914-18 war, was mentioned in despatches and was awarded the Military Cross, Distinguished Service Order and Croix de Guerre.) He became Engineering Inspector in the Ministry of Transport in 1920, Divisional Road Engineer in 1921, Deputy Chief Engineer in 1929 and Chief Engineer in 1935. He retired in 1942 'but remained on in the Ministry of Transport for three years in an advisory capacity and acted as chairman of many important government committees'. He was created C.B. in 1937 and knighted in 1942. He was a Member of Council, Institute of Civil Engineers, F.S.I. and Honorary Member of the Institute of Royal Engineers and of the Institute of Municipal and County Engineers. He was a partner in Howard Humphreys & Sons, Consulting Engineers, Westminster. His home was The Mount, Ashtead Park Ashtead, Middlesex, where he died 15th May 1947. (Information from Who's Who 1946, and Who Was Who 1941-1950.)
EDWARD HAROLD CRUMP. Formerly assistant surveyor at Nuneaton Urban District Council (Hinckley Times, 7 Mar 1903).
FRANCIS EDWARD DRAKE. He applied for the post of town surveyor in March 1868, when his address was Friar Lane, Leicester (The Hinckley Chronicles, p.28). 'In Leicester I have laid out many new streets and erected many public and private buildings and in a lesser degree I may perhaps say the same of Hinckley'. Whether he was appointed to the post is uncertain. He claimed to have been resident surveyor 'on the large building estate of Cliftonville' near Margate in Kent, assistant in the late town surveyor's office at Wells, Somerset, and assistant resident surveyor on the Lancashire estates of the Earl of Derby. Drake remained at Hinckley until August, 1871, residing at Teign Bank House. On 21st December of that year he appeared as defendant in a case brought in the County Court by George Penton in pursuance of unpaid debts. He was then living in Salford, where, from 24th August, he had been employed as surveyor to the corporation. His wife and family were still in Hinckley but due to join him when his contract was secure. During the case, testimony was taken in absentia from his mother, Harriet, who was elderly and living in Exeter. Drake referred to having been employed in Leicester, building houses in Syston Street and a factory in Gordon Street, and also stated that 'I have a large property in Hinckley which is not mortgaged to its full value'. The judge adjourned the case but not before reprimanding Drake. 'The evidence given showed a very extraordinary mode of proceeding from beginning to end, and if Mr. Drake, an architect, had conducted his business in the way he had said, all he could say was that his business was done in a very loose way indeed' (Hinckley News, 30 Dec 1871). Despite the fact that Drake claimed authorship of a considerable number of buildings, the only one for which there is independent documentary evidence is the Congregational Chapel at Hinckley.
JOSEPH ALOYSIUS HANSOM 1803-1882. Hansom is the most distinguished architect to have resided in the town. After being declared bankrupt following the implementation of penalty clauses contained in the contract for Birmingham Town Hall (for which his designs had won a competition in 1828) Hansom was brought to Hinckley in 1834 by Dempster Heming of Caldecote. Heming provided Hansom with employment as an architect and manager of his financial affairs. Heming and Joseph Needham founded the Leicestershire and Warwickshire Banking Company in about 1835, and Hansom was employed to convert a house in The Borough into suitable banking premises. Hansom worshipped at St Peter's church and kept a pet golden eagle in the yard at the rear of his house. In late 1834 Heming had persuaded Hansom to patent plans they had discussed for a safety cab, and this was registered with the Patent Office on 23 December 1834. According to Drozdz, Hansom 'did some private architectural work for a Mr Harris', and was commissioned to design the Hinckley Union Workhouse on London Road, in 1838. In 1837 Hansom left Hinckley and moved to Caldecote, where he erected for himself a house called Mill Farm. Heming's bank at Hinckley failed in 1840, and Heming having become involved in an expensive lawsuit, Hansom moved on to London to develop his architectural career, launching The Builder and specialising in the design of Roman Catholic churches. Right: engraved portrait of Hansom, the successful architect, in later years. According to a memoir of 1889 by Thomas Harrold, 'he was the architect for several buildings in the town and neighbourhood, which my father carried out under him' (Hinckley Times, 23 Feb 1889).
THOMAS HARROLD, junior. 1832-1919. Son of Thomas Harrold, sen., carpenter, builder, cabinet-maker and timber merchant of Castle Street. As a young man he was sent to Bristol to train in the offices of the Hansom family. He was certainly there in 1850, when he executed some fine surviving drawings of gothic architecture, probably as part of his training. Returning to Hinckley, he worked as surveyor during the construction of the Nuneaton to Wigston railway and established the firm of T. & G. Harrold with his brother George. They were 'joiners, builders, contractors, auctioneers, surveyors, brickmakers and agents for the Lancashire Fire and Life Insurance'. Tom was the driving force in the partnership, concentrating on the surveying and auctioneering side of the business. He was responsible for, amongst other works, rebuilding a tower at Higham Grange after it had subsided (The Hinckley Chronicles, p.14). His signature of approval appeared on plans for laying out new streets, which suggests he may have acted as Town Surveyor. He lived in Castle Street with his brothers George and William, both builders, Charles, a warehouseman, his sister Sarah, and a domestic servant. There is no evidence that he ever married. He was a member of Hinckley Choral Society and two local field clubs, and had a great interest in local history, architecture, archaeology and geology. He also collected local sayings and folklore. Many of his papers survive (The Hinckley Chronicles, pp.1-2). Commenting on the erection of the parochial schools in 1854, the Leicester Journal noted that their design did 'credit to the architects and builders - Messrs Thomas and George Harrold - whose fame for uniting durability with economy, together with chasteness of design and skilfulness in execution, may now be said to be accomplished' (Leicester Journal, 25 Aug 1854).
WILLIAM THOMAS HOWSE was appointed to the surveyorship in Oct 1893 from a field of eighty-five applicants after the death of William White Cooper. In 1899 he accepted the surveyorship of Bexley in Kent. 'He proved a most conscientious and efficient official while at Hinckley, and he left the town much to the regret of the ratepayers' (obit. Hinckley Times, 18 July 1930).
FREDERICK ALLEN MALTBY. He retired from the surveyorship due to ill-health (Hinckley Times, 11 Aug 1883) although was still in practice in Hinckley as late as 1898 (Hinckley Times).
SIDNEY JOHN WALKER. He was born at Marton, Warwickshire in 1882, from whence, on 5 May 1905, the newly qualified architect walked to Hinckley on his first day of work with Heaton & Ball. In early 1909, on the retirement of Joseph Ball, he was made a partner in the practice which was renamed Heaton & Walker. He served in the Great War. He was chairman of directors, Hinckley and Country Building Society, for 23 years; oldest member of Burbage Golf Club; from 1928 3rd president of the Rotary Club of Hinckley; member of the Knights of Malta Lodge (freemasons) from 1913, and Worshipful Master in 1922 (information Gregory Drozdz & Raymond Hewitt). He designed his own house, Three Ways, which stands in Hill Street, behind Argents Mead. Walker died on 2 June 1973 aged 91. In 1974 Heaton & Walker became Ellis Williams, which, although still in existence, closed its Hinckley office in 1983.
