The
Office of Works was established in the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Royal householdThe Royal Household in all the early medieval monarchies of Western Europe formed the basis for the general government of the country. In the modern period in Europe, royal households have become increasingly separate from government, where they still exist....
in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings. It was reconstituted as a government department in 1851 and became part of the Ministry of Works in 1940.
The organisation of the office varied but latterly it was headed by a Surveyor and administered by a Comptroller.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Office of Works' Start a new discussion about 'Office of Works' Answer questions from other users |
The
Office of Works was established in the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Royal householdThe Royal Household in all the early medieval monarchies of Western Europe formed the basis for the general government of the country. In the modern period in Europe, royal households have become increasingly separate from government, where they still exist....
in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings. It was reconstituted as a government department in 1851 and became part of the Ministry of Works in 1940.
The organisation of the office varied but latterly it was headed by a Surveyor and administered by a Comptroller. In 1782 these offices were merged into Surveyor-General and Comptroller. From 1761 there were named Architects. The office also had posts of Secretary, Master Mason and Master Carpenter.
Surveyor of the King's Works
- 1597-1604 William Spicer
- 1604-1606 Sir David Cunningham
Sir David Cunninghame of Robertland, in Ayrshire, was Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland from 1602 to 1607.After the murder of the Earl of Eglinton in 1585, Cunninghame spent some time in exile at the royal court of Denmark, but was rehabilitated in 1589, when King James VI travelled there to...
- 1606-1615 Simon Basil
- 1615-1643 Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is regarded as the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
- 1643-1653 Edward Carter
- 1653-1660 John Embree
- 1660-1669 Sir John Denham
Sir John Denham was an English poet and courtier. He served as Surveyor of the King's Works and is buried in Westminster Abbey....
- 1669-1718 Sir Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren was one of the best known and highest acclaimed English architects in history,...
- 1718-1719 William Benson
William Benson was a talented amateur architect and an ambitious and self-serving Whig place-holder in the government of George I...
- 1719-1726 Sir Thomas Hewett
- 1726-1737 Richard Arundell
- 1737-1743 Henry Fox
- 1743-1760 Henry Finch
Sir Henry Finch was an English lawyer and politician, created serjeant-at-law and knighted, and remembered as a legal writer.-Life:He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, though taking no degree, and was admitted of Gray's Inn in 1577, and called to the bar there in 1585...
- 1760-1768 Thomas Worsley
- 1779-1782 James Whitehead Keene
Comptroller of the King's Works
- 1423-1452 Robert Shiryngton, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6FIsN-A7lqwC&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=%22Controller+of+the+King's+Works%22&source=web&ots=7R7Gbaglym&sig=1teNyJMpdXHm6T_yy1ouQ2obHi4&hl=en
- 1456-1461 Peter Idley, http://www.artfact.com/catalog/viewLot.cfm?lotCode=R1OVE3D8
- 1597-1606 Simon Basil
- 1606-1641 Thomas Baldwin
Thomas Baldwin was Comptroller of the King's Works from 1606 to 1641.Baldwin came from a family of Hertfordshire gentry. As Comptroller he seems to have been an administrator rather than an architect but did carry out a number of designs.He designed the Jesus Hospital at Bray, Berkshire for the...
- 1641-1668 James Wethered
- 1668-1684 Hugh May
Hugh May was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowering of English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His own work...
- 1689-1702 William Talman
William Talman was an English architect and landscape designer. A pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, in 1678 he and Thomas Apprice gained the office of king's waiter in the Port of London...
- 1702-1726 Sir John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard...
- 1726-1758 Thomas Ripley
Thomas Ripley ] - February 10, 1758) was an English architect. He was born in Yorkshire, first kept a coffee house in Wood Street, off Cheapside and in 1705 was admitted to the Carpenter's Company...
- 1758-1769 Henry Flitcroft
Henry Flitcroft was a major English architect in the second generation of Palladianism. He came from a simple background: his father was a labourer in the gardens at Hampton Court and he began as a joiner by trade. Working as a carpenter at Burlington House, he fell from a scaffold and broke his leg...
- 1769-1782 Sir William Chambers
Sir William Chambers was a Scottish architect, born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father was a merchant. Between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making several voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration.Returning to Europe, he studied...
Surveyor-General and Comptroller
- 1782-1796 Sir William Chambers
Sir William Chambers was a Scottish architect, born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father was a merchant. Between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making several voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration.Returning to Europe, he studied...
- 1796-1813 James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
Surveyor of the King's Private Roads
- 1660-1690 Andrew Lawrence
- 1690-1715 Michael Studholme
- 1716-1731 William Watkins
William Watkins is the name of:* Bill Watkins , Canadian baseball manager* Bill Watkins , CEO of Seagate Technology* Billy Watkins, head coach of the Auburn college football program, 1900–1901...
- 1731-1737 Richard Arundell
- 1737-1756 Thomas Ripley
Thomas Ripley ] - February 10, 1758) was an English architect. He was born in Yorkshire, first kept a coffee house in Wood Street, off Cheapside and in 1705 was admitted to the Carpenter's Company...
- 1756-1757 John Offley
- 1757-1760 Sir Henry Erskine, 5th Baronet
Sir Henry Erskine, 5th Baronet was a Scottish politician.He served as Member of Parliament for Ayr Burghs 1749-1754 and for Anstruther Easter Burghs 1754-1765- References:*...
- 1760–1771 Hon. Edward Finch
Edward Finch-Hatton was a diplomat and politician.He was born Hon. Edward Finch, 5th son of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and of Anne Hatton daughter and in her issue sole heiress of Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton. He was educated at a school at Isleworth and at Trinity College,...
- 1771–1772 Thomas Whateley
- 1772–1782 Hon. Henry Fane
Superintendent of all the King's Gardens
- 1689-1700 William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland
Hans William, Baron Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, KG, PC was a Dutch and English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of stadtholder William Henry, Prince of Orange. He was steady, sensible, modest and usually moderate...
- 1700-1702 Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh
Richard Jones was the eldest son of Arthur Jones, 2nd Viscount Ranelagh and Katherine Boyle, daughter of the Earl of Cork who counted amongst her brothers the chemist Robert Boyle and Lord Broghill, the later Earl of Orrery who was a prominent politician in Cromwellian and Restoration...
Surveyor of Gardens and Waters
- 1715-1726 Sir John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard...
- 1726-1737 Charles Dartiquenave
- 1738-1760 Hon. Thomas Hervey
- 1761-1763 George Onslow
George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow PC was a British nobleman and politician.He was the only son of Arthur Onslow, having no siblings but one sister, who died in 1751. He was said to be seriously lacking in his father's qualities.On 26 June 1753, he married Henrietta Shelley George Onslow, 1st Earl...
- 1763-1763 Lord Charles Spencer
Lord Charles Spencer PC was a British politician and courtier.-Background:Spencer was the second son of Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, and the Hon. Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Trevor, 2nd Baron Trevor...
- 1763-1764 John Marshe Dickinson
- 1764-1769 Hon. Charles Sloane Cadogan
Charles Sloane Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan was a British peer and Whig politician.Cadogan was the only son of the 2nd Baron Cadogan and his wife, Elizabeth, the second daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. From 1749-54 and again from 1755, Cadogan was a Member of Parliament for Cambridge until he...
- 1770-1782 William Varey
Architect of the Works
- 1761-1769 Sir William Chambers
- 1761-1769 Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
- 1769-1777 Sir Robert Taylor
Sir Robert Taylor was a notable English architect of the mid-late 18th century.Born at Woodford, Essex, Taylor followed in his father's footsteps and started working as a stone-mason and sculptor, spending time as a pupil of Sir Henry Cheere. Despite some important commissions Sir Robert Taylor...
- 1769-1782 James Adam
- 1777-1780 Thomas Sandby
Thomas Sandby was an English cartographer who later became an architect and teacher. Along with his younger brother Paul, he became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and was its first professor of architecture....
- 1780-1782 James Paine
James Paine was an English architect.Essentially a Palladian, early in his career he was Clerk of Works at Nostell Priory, and worked on many other projects in the area including Heath House in the village of Heath in between Nostell Priory and Wakefield.From the 1750s, he had his own practice,...
Secretary to the Board of Works
- 1715-1718 Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor was a British architect born to a humble family in Nottinghamshire.His career formed the brilliant middle link in Britain's trio of great baroque architects...
- 1718-1719 Benjamin Benson
- 1719-1726 John Hallam
John William Francis Hallam was a Northern Irish character actor.Born John William Francis Hallam in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, he appeared in many film and television roles including Murphy's War , The Pallisers , The Mallens , Flash Gordon , Dragonslayer , the BBC television adaptations of...
- 1726-1736 Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor was a British architect born to a humble family in Nottinghamshire.His career formed the brilliant middle link in Britain's trio of great baroque architects...
- 1736-1766 Isaac Ware
Isaac Ware was an English architect and translator of Palladio.He was apprenticed to Thomas Ripley, 1 August 1721, and followed him in positions in the Office of Works, but his mentor in design was Lord Burlington.Ware was a member of the St...
- 1766-1775 William Robinson
- 1775-1782 Kenton Couse
Kenton Couse was an English architect and Secretary to the Board of Works from 1775 to 1782.He was apprenticed to Henry Flitcroft whose patronage obtained him various posts in the Office of Works. His most famous work was the remodelling of 10 Downing Street in 1766–1775. He was co-designer of...