Sir (William) Albert Gelder
Encyclopedia
Sir Alfred Gelder (12 May 1855 – 26 August 1941) was a British architect
and Liberal
politician.
in the East Riding of Yorkshire
, the son of William Gelder, a joiner
and wheelwright
who later became a timber
merchant. Although christened William after his father, Gelder was known by his middle name, Alfred. It is not clear how much formal schooling Gelder received and at the age of 15 he was apprenticed to his father. However he changed his mind about following his father’s trade and later became an architect. In 1877 he married Elizabeth Parker from Hull
. They had two sons and a daughter. Elizabeth Gelder died in 1934 and Alfred did not re-marry.
degree and he later became a Fellow of the Royal Society as well as being a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
.
In 1892 he formed an association with Llewellyn Kitchen, the son of a commercial traveller from Manchester
and set up the firm of Gelder and Kitchen in which he was the senior partner.
Gelder had entered the architectural profession at the time of the Victorian era
development of Hull. According to one source it was largely thanks to Gelder’s ability and energy that Hull was a city transformed – with old buildings removed, new wide streets introduced and attractive shops and public offices erected. Under Gelder’s supervision, Hull was being hailed as one of the country’s finest cities with the slums and disorder of the Victorian city giving way to broad, straight thoroughfares. During Gelder’s time the city centre was reconstructed and a new bridge, the Drypool Bridge, was built across the River Hull
. In recognition of Gelder’s contributions, the new road built through the city centre to link with this bridge was named Alfred Gelder Street. In the 1930s Gelder was associated with the works to transform Queen’s Dock into Queen’s Gardens
. One of Gelder and Kitchen’s specialisms was the design of flour mills
and oilseed crushing mills at a time when Hull was a major European centre for the industry. One of the firm’s most famous clients for its revolutionary roller mill was Joseph Rank
who, like Gelder, was a noted Methodist and Gelder also did architectural work for Joseph Rank’s son, the industrialist and film producer
, J Arthur Rank. His devout attachment to Methodism caused Gelder to design numerous chapels, including the Brunswick Chapel on Holderness Road in 1890 and the Princes Avenue Chapel in 1904. As well as in Hull, there were commissions for chapels and flour mills, from
all over the country.
religion in Victorian and Edwardian England, Gelder gravitated to Liberal politics. In 1892 he became a member of the Hull School Board and three years later joined the City Council. From 1899-1903 Gelder was Liberal Mayor
of Hull and in all was a member of the council, later in the office of Alderman
, for 43 years. In 1930 he received the Honorary Freedom of the City
.
In 1910, Gelder was selected as Liberal candidate for Brigg
in north Lincolnshire
. Since its creation in 1885, Brigg had been mostly a Liberal seat but it had been lost to the Conservatives
in a by-election
in 1907 when the Liberal candidate was Frederick Guest. Guest was then selected to fight East Dorset
and the Brigg constituency Liberals turned to Gelder as their candidate. He won the seat back from the Tories at the January 1910 general election, held it in December 1910 and represented the constituency until 1918
when he stood again as an Asquithian Independent Liberal and was beaten into third place behind the winning Coalition
Conservative and the Labour
candidate.
Gelder had resigned from Hull Council in 1912 but he was later elected an Alderman. By 1935 he was sitting as a member of the Independent Group and was the only one of the Independent Aldermen not to be voted off the Council by the incoming Labour administration .
, accompanied by the Princess of Wales
to unveil a memorial statue of Queen Victoria, a commemoration tablet at the Royal Infirmary
and to lay the foundation stone of the new City Hall
.
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician.
Family and education
Gelder was born in the village of North CaveNorth Cave
North Cave is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated to the west of Hull city centre on the B1230 road. South Cave is approximately to the south east....
in the East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
, the son of William Gelder, a joiner
Joiner
A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...
and wheelwright
Wheelwright
A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...
who later became a timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
merchant. Although christened William after his father, Gelder was known by his middle name, Alfred. It is not clear how much formal schooling Gelder received and at the age of 15 he was apprenticed to his father. However he changed his mind about following his father’s trade and later became an architect. In 1877 he married Elizabeth Parker from Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
. They had two sons and a daughter. Elizabeth Gelder died in 1934 and Alfred did not re-marry.
Career
Gelder wanted to be an architect and he went to Hull to seek out opportunities. He must have acquired some qualifications because in the year after his marriage to Elizabeth Parker he established an architectural practice. It is known that he gained a Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree and he later became a Fellow of the Royal Society as well as being a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
.
In 1892 he formed an association with Llewellyn Kitchen, the son of a commercial traveller from Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and set up the firm of Gelder and Kitchen in which he was the senior partner.
Gelder had entered the architectural profession at the time of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
development of Hull. According to one source it was largely thanks to Gelder’s ability and energy that Hull was a city transformed – with old buildings removed, new wide streets introduced and attractive shops and public offices erected. Under Gelder’s supervision, Hull was being hailed as one of the country’s finest cities with the slums and disorder of the Victorian city giving way to broad, straight thoroughfares. During Gelder’s time the city centre was reconstructed and a new bridge, the Drypool Bridge, was built across the River Hull
River Hull
The River Hull is a navigable river in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the north of England. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber estuary at Kingston upon Hull. Following a period when the Archbishops of York charged tolls for its use, it became a free...
. In recognition of Gelder’s contributions, the new road built through the city centre to link with this bridge was named Alfred Gelder Street. In the 1930s Gelder was associated with the works to transform Queen’s Dock into Queen’s Gardens
Queen's Gardens, Hull
Queen's Gardens is a sequence of gardens in the centre of Kingston upon Hull, England. They are set out within a area that until 1930 was filled with the waters of Queen's Dock...
. One of Gelder and Kitchen’s specialisms was the design of flour mills
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
and oilseed crushing mills at a time when Hull was a major European centre for the industry. One of the firm’s most famous clients for its revolutionary roller mill was Joseph Rank
Joseph Rank
Joseph Rank was the founder of Rank Hovis McDougall, one of the United Kingdom's largest flour-milling businesses.-Career:...
who, like Gelder, was a noted Methodist and Gelder also did architectural work for Joseph Rank’s son, the industrialist and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, J Arthur Rank. His devout attachment to Methodism caused Gelder to design numerous chapels, including the Brunswick Chapel on Holderness Road in 1890 and the Princes Avenue Chapel in 1904. As well as in Hull, there were commissions for chapels and flour mills, from
all over the country.
Politics
Like many self-made men of non-conformistNonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
religion in Victorian and Edwardian England, Gelder gravitated to Liberal politics. In 1892 he became a member of the Hull School Board and three years later joined the City Council. From 1899-1903 Gelder was Liberal Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Hull and in all was a member of the council, later in the office of Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
, for 43 years. In 1930 he received the Honorary Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
.
In 1910, Gelder was selected as Liberal candidate for Brigg
Brigg (UK Parliament constituency)
Brigg was a county constituency centred on the town of Brigg in North Lincolnshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....
in north Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. Since its creation in 1885, Brigg had been mostly a Liberal seat but it had been lost to the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in 1907 when the Liberal candidate was Frederick Guest. Guest was then selected to fight East Dorset
East Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)
East Dorset is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was formally known as the Eastern Division of Dorset. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
and the Brigg constituency Liberals turned to Gelder as their candidate. He won the seat back from the Tories at the January 1910 general election, held it in December 1910 and represented the constituency until 1918
United Kingdom general election, 1918
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...
when he stood again as an Asquithian Independent Liberal and was beaten into third place behind the winning Coalition
Coalition Government 1916-1922
The Coalition Government of David Lloyd George came to power in the United Kingdom in December 1916, replacing the earlier wartime coalition under H.H. Asquith, which had been held responsible for reverses during the Great War. Those Liberals who continued to support Asquith served as the Opposition...
Conservative and the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
candidate.
Gelder had resigned from Hull Council in 1912 but he was later elected an Alderman. By 1935 he was sitting as a member of the Independent Group and was the only one of the Independent Aldermen not to be voted off the Council by the incoming Labour administration .
Honours and appointments
Gelder was knighted in the King’s birthday honours list of 1903 for his services to architecture and to the City of Hull. This followed the visit to Hull during May 1903, when Gelder was Mayor of the city, by the Prince of WalesGeorge V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, accompanied by the Princess of Wales
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
to unveil a memorial statue of Queen Victoria, a commemoration tablet at the Royal Infirmary
Hull Royal Infirmary
Hull Royal Infirmary is one of the two main hospitals for Kingston upon Hull . It is situated on Anlaby Road, just outside of the city centre, and is run by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust....
and to lay the foundation stone of the new City Hall
Hull City Hall
Hull City Hall is a Civic Building in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.The City Hall does not perform an administrative function for Hull's council, as this is based in the Guildhall....
.