Early life

Worthington was born at Chorley

Chorley

Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...

, Alderley Edge

Alderley Edge

Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,409....

, the youngest son of the architect Thomas Worthington

Thomas Worthington (architect)

Thomas Worthington was a 19th-century English architect, particularly associated with public buildings in and around Manchester.-Early life:...

. He was educated at Sedbergh School

Sedbergh School

Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...

 from 1900–1905 and then at the Manchester University school of architecture, before being articled to his half-brother Percy

Percy Worthington

Sir Percy Scott Worthington was an English architect.He was born in Crumpsall, Manchester, the eldest son of the architect Thomas Worthington. He was educated at Clifton College, Bristol and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1887, and he qualified as an architect in 1890. He...

. From 1912 until the outbreak of the First World War, Worthington spent two years working with Edwin Lutyens

Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...

, whom Worthington found to be inspirational.

Worthington fought with distinction as a captain in the Manchester Regiment, and was severely wounded on 1 July 1916 during the offensive on the Somme

Somme

Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....

, but he survived overnight in a shell hole and was rescued the following day. He rejoined Percy in the family firm in 1919.

Career

In 1929 Worthington was appointed Slade lecturer in architecture at Oxford University, and later designed many buildings for the university and its colleges, as well as the internal restoration of the Radcliffe Camera

Radcliffe Camera

The Radcliffe Camera is a building in Oxford, England, designed by James Gibbs in the English Palladian style and built in 1737–1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library.-History:...

 in 1939 and the Bodleian Library

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...

 in 1955. Following Percy Worthington's death in 1939 Hubert became the principal of the firm. In 1943 Worthington was appointed by the Imperial War Graves Commission as principal architect for Egyptand north Africa, work which involved the selection of sites and the design and supervision of the various cemeteries and memorials to the missing, among them one at Valletta, Malta, to missing airmen. The cemetery at El Alamein

El Alamein

El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it has a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.- Climate :...

, which contains more than 7,000 graves, was also designed by Worthington. His major rebuilding commission was the inns of court

Inns of Court

The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. All such barristers must belong to one such association. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional...

, London, work carried out jointly with Sir Edward Maufe and T. W. Sutcliffe. Of more personal interest to Worthington was his work on repairing the damage caused to Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral is a medieval church on Victoria Street in central Manchester and is the seat of the Bishop of Manchester. The cathedral's official name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester...

 during the Manchester Blitz

Manchester Blitz

The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the Nazi German Luftwaffe...

 of 1940, a task that was not completed until 1955.

Honours

Worthington served as vice-president of the RIBA

Riba

Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...

 from 1943–5 and was a member of the Royal Fine Arts Commission from 1945–1950. He received a knighthood in 1949, was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

in 1945, and an Academician of the Society in 1955.