Alfred Darbyshire

Alfred Darbyshire (20 June 1839 – 5 July 1908) was a British architect.

Education and career Alfred Darbyshire was born on 20 June 1839 in Salford, Lancashire, to William Darbyshire, the manager of a dyeworks, and his wife Mary née Bancroft. He was a nephew of George Bradshaw, the compiler of railway guides. His education began at the Quaker school in Manchester and continued from 1852 at the Quaker Ackworth School where his artistic abilities were recognised and encouraged by Henry Sparkes. He completed his education at Lindow Grove Academy, Alderley.

On leaving school, Darbyshire was articled to P. B. Alley of the architects' firm of Lane and Alley in Manchester and enrolled in the Manchester School of Art. In 1862, he established his own architectural practice at St James's Square, Manchester. Early commissions included additions to Lyme Hall and a house in Newton-le-Willows. He was one of the founders of the first Manchester Architectural Association.

Works Darbyshire admired the Gothic Revival style of Alfred Waterhouse but also designed in the neoclassical style. He is best known for his theatrical architecture. He designed Manchester's Gaiety Theatre and a theatre at Rawtenstall, and carried out alterations at Manchester's Theatre Royal and the Prince's theatres. In London he altered and decorated the Lyceum Theatre.

Concerned by the danger of fire in theatres, he worked with the actor Henry Irving to develop the Irving-Darbyshire safety plan which consisted of isolating separate parts of the theatre and providing fireproof escape routes. He first implemented this plan when he rebuilt the Theatre Royal, Exeter which had been destroyed in the Exeter Theatre Royal fire in 1887, killing 186 people. His last major theatre was the Palace of Varieties in Manchester.

Theatre

Alfred Darbyshire was a man of many talents, which centred on the theatre. As well as building them, he acted in them and became famous for his extravagant stage productions.

In 1869, Charles Calvert, actor-manager of the Prince's Theatre, Manchester, employed Alfred to redecorate the theatre. They became good friends and Alfred assisted Calvert with the staging of some of his great 'revivals' of Shakespeare's plays.

In 1872, he built a spectacular set for the triumphal entry of the King into London in Henry V. He reproduced the streets of London, the seaport of Southampton, the walled town of Harfleur, the battlefield of Agincourt, the palaces of Westminster and Rouen, and the cathedral of Troyes. It contained between two and three hundred persons. The production was carried through the United States and into Australia. In New York, more than 100,000 people visited Booth's Theatre to see the play.

Paintings

As a landscape painter, Darbyshire sketched and painted in Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany. He was friendly with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, and Walter Crane. Alfred could produce an intricate architectural watercolour depicting Durham Cathedral, or a busy colourful picture of a harbour in Whitby, now both in Stockport Art Gallery.

Writing Darbyshire was an art critic for the Manchester Guardian from 1868 to 1874 He was cousin to the American industrialists and philanthropists William Poole Bancroft and Samuel Bancroft, the latter of whom corresponded extensively with Darbyshire about artwork.