Henry Darbishire

Peabody dwellings, Commercial Street, London, designed by Darbishire: a wood-engraving published in the Illustrated London News in 1863, shortly before the building opened

Henry Astley Darbishire FRIBA JP DL (15 May 1825 – 4 June 1899) was a British architect, best known for working on philanthropic schemes. He worked on projects for Angela Burdett-Coutts, and was the architect for the Peabody Trust from 1863 until 1885,^[1] when he was succeeded by Victor Wilkins.^[2]

He was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Lancashire,^[3][4] the son of James Darbishire and his wife, Mary Roberts.^[5] He qualified as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1856, and finally retired from practice in 1894.^[4]

In 1858, Darbishire married Eliza Paget, sister of Sir Ernest Paget.^[6] They had three children: Frederic Astley Darbishire (3 November 1859 – 15 March 1926); Eilie Gwendoline Darbishire (1863–1936); and Harry Vernon Darbishire (2 August 1864 – 29 February 1949) and.^[5]

He died in 1899 at Oakdene, Edenbridge, Kent.^[7]

Notable works

• Columbia Square, Bethnal Green (1857–60), demolished
• Baroness Burdett Coutts Drinking Fountain, Victoria Park, London (1862)
• Peabody dwellings, Commercial Street, Spitalfields (1864)
• Holly Village, Highgate, London (1865)^[8]
• Peabody Estate, Islington (1865)
• Columbia Market, Bethnal Green (1866), demolished
• Peabody Estate, Shadwell (1866)
• Guilford Place drinking fountain (1870)
• Peabody Square, Blackfriars Road, Bermondsey (1871)
• Peabody Estate, Pimlico (1876)
• Peabody Estate, Whitechapel (1881)

References

1. "housing association | History of estates | London". Peabody. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
2. "In praise of the Peabody Estates". Apollo-magazine.com. March 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
3. 1871 England Census
4. Davidovici 2017, p. 62.
5. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1899). Armorial Families: A Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, Showing which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority. T.C. & E.C. Jack. p. 224. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
6. Fletcher, William George Dimock (1887). Leicestershire Pedigrees and Royal Descents. Clarke and Hodgson. p. 17. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
7. "Deaths". The Times. 6 June 1899. p. 1.
8. "Darbishire, Henry Astley - Dictionary definition of Darbishire, Henry Astley | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 5 November 2016.

Further reading

• Davidovici, Irina (2017). "Renewable principles in Henry Astley Darbishire's Peabody estates, 1864 to 1885". In Guillery, Peter; Kroll, David (eds.). Mobilising Housing Histories: learning from London's past. London: RIBA Publishing. pp. 57–73. ISBN 9781859466315.
• Placzek, Adolf K., ed. (1982). "Henry Astley Darbishire". Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. Vol. 1. London: Collier Macmillan. p. 502. ISBN 0029250005.