George Frederick Bodley

George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott and worked with C. E. Kempe. He was in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career and was one of the founders of Watts & Co.

Personal life Bodley was the youngest son of William Hulme Bodley, of Edinburgh, physician at Hull Royal Infirmary, Hull, who in 1838 retired to his wife's home town, Brighton. George's eldest brother, the Rev. W. H. Bodley, became a well-known Roman Catholic preacher and a professor at St Mary's College, New Oscott, Birmingham.

He married Minna F. H. Reavely, daughter of Thomas George Wood Reavely, at Kinnersley Castle in 1872. They had a son, George H. Bodley, born in 1874.

Career

Bodley was articled to the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, a relative by marriage, under whose influence he became imbued with the spirit of the Gothic Revival, and he became known as the chief exponent of 14th-century English Gothic, and the leading ecclesiastical architect in England. He is regarded as the leader of the resurgence of interest in English and Northern European late-medieval design. Noted for his pioneering design work in the Queen Anne Revival.

Bodley became acquainted with William Morris in the late 1850s, and in the 1860s his commissions for stained glass and ecclesiastical decoration helped ensure the success of Morris's firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., founded in 1861. Bodley is said to have designed two of Morris's early wallpapers. By the late 1860s Bodley had become disenchanted with Morris, and for stained glass turned to the firm of Burlison and Grylls, founded in 1868, for the glass in his later churches, notably St Augustine's Church, Pendlebury, near Manchester (designed 1870) and the Church of the Holy Angels, Hoar Cross in Staffordshire (designed 1871–72).

Bodley worked with his lifelong friend, the stained glass designer Charles Eamer Kempe. They collaborated on projects including: St John the Baptist, Tuebrook in Liverpool; Queens' College Chapel, Cambridge; All Saints, Danehill, East Sussex and the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire.

Partnership with Thomas Garner From 1869 he worked in a twenty-eight-year partnership with Thomas Garner, designing collegiate buildings in Oxford and Cambridge, country houses and churches throughout the British Isles. One cathedral was completed to his design: St David's Cathedral, Hobart in Tasmania, Australia (first design, 1865; revised 1891; building completed 1936). In 1906 Bodley designed with his pupil Henry Vaughan the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. He also designed Grace Cathedral, San Francisco in 1862, and again for its post-1906 earthquake replacement but it was adapted by his partner after his death.

As well as Vaughan, Bodley and Garner's pupils included the garden designer Inigo Thomas who specialised in formal gardens with geometrical plans in 17th- and 18th-century styles, which suited the houses that Bodley and Garner renovated for wealthy clients.

In 1874 Bodley founded Watts & Co. with Garner and George Gilbert Scott Jr. Bodley, Garner, and Scott all lived on Church Row in Hampstead in the 1860s and 70s.

Gallery

Works

New churches

1854–56 Christ Church, Long Grove, Herefordshire (now named Llangrove) 1854–58 St John the Baptist Church, Dimmelsdale, France Lynch, Gloucestershire 1855 Church of St Michael and All Angels, Brighton, Sussex 1857–74 St Salvador's Church, Dundee, Scotland 1860–68 All Saints' Church, Selsley, Gloucestershire 1861–62 St Martin on the Hill, Scarborough, Yorkshire 1861–65 St Wilfrid's Church, Haywards Heath, Sussex 1861–66 St Stephen's Church, St Peter Port, Guernsey with Benjamin Ferrey 1862 St Mary & St Mary Magdalene's Church, Brighton (demolished 1963) 1863–70 All Saints' Church, Jesus Lane, Cambridge 1865–71 St Simon's Church, St Helier, Jersey 1867–70 Church of Saint John the Baptist, Liverpool 1867–74 All Saints' Church, Falsgrave, Scarborough, Yorkshire 1868–70 Church of Saint John the Baptist, Liverpool 1868–1936 St David's Cathedral, Hobart 1871–73 St Michael's Church, Folkestone, Kent with Thomas Garner (now demolished) 1871 St Augustine's Church, Pendlebury near Manchester, Lancashire with Thomas Garner 1872 Church of the Holy Angels, Hoar Cross, Staffordshire with Thomas Garner 1874 St John the Divine, Kennington, London (interior) 1879–85 St Michael's Church, Camden Town, London with Thomas Garner 1880–86 St German's Church, Roath, Cardiff with Thomas Garner 1885–86 St Alban's Church, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire with Thomas Garner 1885-86 St Lawrence's Church, Ecchinswell, Hampshire with Thomas Garner 1886 Marlborough College chapel with Thomas Garner 1886–89 The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire 1887–95 St Saviour's Church, Splott, Cardiff with Thomas Garner 1889–92 Ascension Church, Woodlands, Dorset with Thomas Garner 1889–92 St Mary of Eton Church, Hackney Wick, London with Thomas Garner 1891 Queens' College chapel, Cambridge 1892–93 St Mary's Church, Horbury, Yorkshire with Thomas Garner 1892–94 St Aldhelm's Church, Poole, Dorset with Thomas Garner 1892–94 St Luke's Church, Warrington, Lancashire with Thomas Garner 1892–95 St Aidan's Church, Skelmanthorpe, Yorkshire with Thomas Garner 1894–95 Holy Innocents Church, South Norwood 1894–1902 St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road, Oxford 1897 St Matthew's Church Chapel Allerton, Leeds, Yorkshire 1898–1902 All Saints' Church, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset 1899 St Mary's Church, Eccleston, Cheshire 1899 St Bride's Church, Glasgow, Scotland 1901 Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London with Cecil Greenwood Hare 1901 Mission Church, Hadley End, Staffordshire 1901–10 St Boniface's Church, Chandler's Ford, Hampshire 1903–04 St Aidan's Church, Bristol, Gloucestershire 1903–04 St Edward's Church, Holbeck, Leeds (demolished 1984) 1903–10 St Chad's Church, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire with Cecil Greenwood Hare 1905 St Faith's Church, Brentford, London with Cecil Greenwood Hare 1905–06 The Paraclete Church, Hom Green, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire 1905–06 Church of the Annunciation, Bournemouth, with Giles Gilbert Scott 1906–07 Bedford School chapel 1907 Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., United States, with Henry Vaughan

Church repairs, alterations and furnishings 1859–63 St James' Church, Bicknor, Kent: new vestry, porch and roof, reseating and repairs to walls 1863–65 All Saints' Church, Coddington, Nottinghamshire: rebuild 1864–65 St James' Church, Wigmore, Herefordshire: repairs 1864–67 Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge: repairs 1866–69 St Michael & All Angels Church, Kingsland, Herefordshire: repairs 1868–70 St Mary's Church, Almeley, Herefordshire, with Thomas Garner: repairs 1868–70 St Nicholas's Church, South Kilworth, Leicestershire: repairs 1870–71 St Mary the Virgin, Barnsley, Yorkshire: repairs 1870–73 St Michael's Church, Lyonshall, Herefordshire: repairs 1871–72 St Mark's Church, Bilton, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner: new north aisle, transept and organ chamber, with reseating, reflooring and general repairs to roofs and walls 1871–72 Church of St Mary Magdalene, Keyworth, Nottinghamshire: repairs 1871–72 St Laurence's Church, Rowington, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner: repairs 1873 St Swithun's Church, East Retford Nottinghamshire: Chantry chapel rebuilt 1873–75 Church of St Mary the Virgin, Plumtree, Nottinghamshire, with Thomas Garner: decoration and new organ case 1873–79 St Michael's Church, Shalbourne, Berkshire, with Thomas Garner, new south aisle: reseating and general restoration 1874 St Helen's Church, Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire: new chancel and repairs 1874–78 St Peter & St Paul's Church, Langham, Rutland, with Thomas Garner: repairs to roof, walls, tower and belfry 1876–79 St Lawrence's Church, Oxhill, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner: repairs 1876–88 St Wilfrid's Church, Hickleton, Yorkshire 1880 St Swithun's Church, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire 1880–83 St Laurence's Church, Frodsham, with Thomas Garner: restoration 1881–84 All Saints' Church, Nettleham, Lincolnshire, with Thomas Garner: new vestry and organ chamber, rebuilding and enlargement of chancel, rebuilding of porch and general repairs 1882–90 All Saints' Church, Bedworth, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner: rebuild 1884 St Mary's Church, Clifton, Nottinghamshire 1885 St Michael's Church, Kirk Langley, Derbyshire, with Thomas Garner: restoration 1886–88 St Manakneu's Church, Lanreath, Cornwall, with Thomas Garner: repairs 1887 Church of St Giles, Wimborne St Giles, Dorset, remodelling in the Gothic style 1889–91 St Giles' Church, Mountnessing, Essex, with Thomas Garner: new vestry/organ chamber, four new nave windows, reseating and general repairs to roof and walls 1889–92 St John the Baptist Church, Epping, Essex, with Thomas Garner: rebuild 1890 St John the Divine, Kennington, London (interior) 1890 St Mary's Church, Nottingham (chapter house) 1890 St Saviour's Church, Ellerby Road, Leeds: addition of Pusey chapel. 1890–99 St Andrew's Church, Chelmondiston, Suffolk, with Thomas Garner: enlargement 1891–1905 All Saints' Church, St Paul's Walden, Hertfordshire, with Thomas Garner: new vestry, new west window in south aisle, reseating and general repairs to roof and walls 1892 Holy Trinity Church, Markbeech, Kent: new chancel 1892 St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge: new chancel, rood screen and reredos 1895 St Martin's Church, Womersley, Yorkshire: rood screen and loft, nave and chancel roof decoration 1897 St George in the Meadows, Nottingham: added chancel 1898 St Bartholomew's Church, Wilmslow: clerestory added to chancel 1898–1903 Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford: refurbishment of main tower 1898–1905 St Bartholomew's Church, Reading, Berkshire: new chancel, north chapel, vestry and chapel at east end of south aisle 1898–1905 St Paul's Church, Bedford: reorder chancel, restore choir stalls and new rood screen 1899–1901 All Saints' Church, East Horndon, Essex: repairs 1899–1904 St Carantoc's Church, Crantock, Cornwall, with Edmund Harold Sedding: repairs 1900–01 St Nicholas' Church, Little Bowden, Northamptonshire: repairs 1901 St Peter's Church, Hartshorne, Derbyshire: enlargement 1901 St Mary's Church, Whitkirk, Leeds: rebuilt 1902–05 St Mary the Virgin, Barton Mills, Suffolk: repairs 1903 St Stephen's, Gloucester Road, London, with Walter Tapper: new reredos and other alterations 1903–04 Christ Church, Mold Green, Kirkheaton, Yorkshire: new chancel, vestry & organ chamber 1904 St Bartholomew's Church, Elvaston repairs and rebuilding of the chancel 1905–07 St Nicholas' Church, Skirbeck, Lincolnshire: new vestries, organ chamber and porches, several new windows, rebuilding of chancel, reseating and general repairs 1906 Church of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Souldern: dismantled and rebuilt bell tower and tower arch 1906 Holy Angels Church, Lilliput Road, Poole, Dorset: rood screen, choir stalls and organ case 1906 St Barnabas Church, Pimlico, London: reredos, rood screen and (with Hill and Son) organ case 1907 St Barnabas Church, Hove: reredos 1907–09 All Saints' Church, Kedleston: north aisle St Paul's, Burton upon Trent: alterations

Secular buildings 1856 National School, Haywards Heath, Sussex 1870 Queens' College Old Hall, Cambridge, decoration 1872–76 Offices of the London School Board (with Thomas Garner), (demolished 1929) The Wodehouse near Wombourne, for the Shaw-Hellier family Hewell Grange 1905: Second Boer War Memorial, York