James Pigott Pritchett

Pritchett's Savings Bank, St Helen's Square, York

James Pigott Pritchett (14 October 1789 – 23 May 1868) was an architect of London and York whose practice stretched from Lincolnshire to the Scottish borders.

Personal life

Pritchett was born on 14 October 1789 to Charles Pigott Pritchett and Anne née Rogers, and christened 4 January 1790 at St Petrox, Pembrokeshire.

He lived for a time in London, and around 1813 moved to York, where he is recorded as a Congregationalist deacon, and, together with William Ellerby, wrote A History of the Nonconformist Churches of York.

He married Peggy Maria Terry on 22 December 1813 at Beckenham, Kent. They had three sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Richard, became a Congregationalist minister; the second, Charles Pigott Pritchett (1818–1891) was an architect;^[1] and in 1844 his daughter, Maria Margaret, married John Middleton (1820–1885), whose only child was the archaeologist and art historian John Henry Middleton (1846–1896), later a director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.^[2]

Pritchett's second marriage was to Caroline Benson on 6 January 1829 at Belton, Lincolnshire. They had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, James Pigott Pritchett junior (1830–1910), was trained by him as an architect and later set up a practice in Darlington in 1854. Another son, John Benson Pritchett, became a surgeon,

Pritchett died in York on 23 May 1868 and was buried in York Cemetery, whose buildings he had designed, on 27 May 1868.

His nephew, George (1824–1912) was also an architect, who was active mainly in Hertfordshire and Essex.^[3]

Practice

Pritchett’s practice extended from Lincolnshire to the Scottish borders, with offices in York.

Known work includes:

• 1825 - Saltmarshe Hall, East Riding of Yorkshire
• 1828 - Facade of the York Assembly Rooms in Blake Street.
• 1829-30 - The Savings Bank, St Helen's Square, York (now a branch of Lloyds Bank)
• 1834-5 - St Peter's Church, Huddersfield.
• 1836 - St John's Church Brearton.
• 1836-7 - York Cemetery, York.
• 1837 - Holy Trinity church Thorpe Hesley.
• 1838 - St James's Church Meltham Mills.
• 1839 - St Mary's Church Rawmarsh.
• 1847-8 - Huddersfield railway station.
• 1851 - Ebenezer Chapel, York (Primitive Methodist)

Other examples are said to be found in York Minster, Rawmarsh, Brotherton and Meltham Mills.

References

1. Colvin, Howard (2008) [1954]. A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects 1660-1840 (4th ed.). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12508-5.
2. Oxford Dictionary of Architects [© Oxford University Press 2004–7 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18676?docPos=27]accessed 16 December 2006
3. "George Edward Pritchett". Church Plans Online. Retrieved 19 May 2013.

• A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840 (3rd ed) by H. M. Colvin, New Haven & London 1995.
• A History of the Nonconformist Churches of York by William Ellerby and James Pigott Pritchett ed. from the original manuscript by Edward Royle, The Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York.