Basic Biographical Details | Name: | Landless & Clifford | | Designation: | | | Born: | 1885 | | Died: | July 1887 | | Bio Notes: | Henry (Harry) Edward Clifford was born at North Naparama, Trinidad, on 12 September 1852, the second son and fourth child of F Henry Clifford, a sugar planter, and his wife Rebecca Anderson, the daughter of John Anderson, a wool carder with a lint mill between Campbeltown and Machrihanish. In 1859 Clifford's father died of a stroke and his mother, then thirty-five, brought her two sons and two daughters to Glasgow where she made a living as a needlewoman.
In October 1867 Clifford was articled to John Burnet Senior for five years and remained a further five as draughtsman; he may previously have been the office boy, as the recollections of Clifford's son state that he joined the office at the age of thirteen. He left to commence practice on his own account first at 113 West Regent Street and then at 196 St Vincent Street, having won £100 in a newspaper competition for a workman's cottage. In his earliest years of independent practice (1878 to 1880) he studied at Glasgow School of Art where he won the Queen's Prize for a dining room wall and the Haldane Prize both in 1879. By 1884 his practice, hitherto supplemented by teaching at Glasgow School of Art, had begun to pick up and he took rooms at 140 Bath Street, apparently within the office of John Honeyman whose practice was then in decline. This arrangement, which may have been with a view to a partnership, ended in 1885 when he formed a partnership with Burnet's nephew and former assistant William Landless under the style of Landless & Clifford at 227 West George Street.
Landless had been born in 1847, the son of William Landless (1806-63) and his wife Margaret Burnet (1811-98) who was Burnet's elder sister. His father had died when he was sixteen, and at or about that time he had been articled to his uncle, remaining with him for a time as an assistant. He had commenced independent practice as early as 1873, the original backbone of his business being work for the Glasgow tramways. His practice had risen to some prominence in 1882 when he gained two important commissions, the Gothic Glasgow Blind Asylum in Castle Street, and John Street School. He was a close friend of the second George Bell of Clarke & Bell, but no link between their firms was formed.
The difficult conditions of the mid-1880s soon caused problems for the practice, and Landless (who was said to have a drink problem, perhaps brought on by the early death of his wife, Eliza Jane Bannatyne Lawson, on 23 March 1887) abandoned private practice in July 1887 when he secured an appointment as clerk of works to Leeds School Board at a salary of 5guineas a week, becoming the board's chief architect two years later. Thereafter Clifford practised on his own account from several addresses in St Vincent Street, later entering into partnership with Thomas Melville Lunan. | Private and Business Addresses| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | 227, West George Street, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1885 | | |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils| The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details): | | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | Henry Edward Clifford | 1885 | July 1887 | Partner | | | William Landless | 1885 | July 1887 | Partner | |
Buildings and Designs| This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | | | Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes | | 1885 | Hartwood Asylum | Shotts | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Competition design, selected but not successful | | 1885 | Hyndland Primary School | | | Glasgow | Scotland | | | 1885 | St Kiaran's Episcopal Church and parsonage | Campbeltown | | Argyll | Scotland | Design for church and rectory - only rectory and church gates executed to Clifford & Landless design |
ReferencesBibliographic References| The following books contain references to this : | | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Clifford, William Henry Morton | 1986 | Recollections about my father | | Typescript, per Iain D Paterson, in DMW archive | | | Murray, Ian (parts written by John Watson Junior) | | The Victoria Infirmary of Glasgow 1890-1938 | | | | | Paterson, Ian and Ogilvie, Sheila M | | Notes on H E Clifford | | Not published | |
Periodical References| The following periodicals contain references to this : | | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | British Architect | June 1887 or 0700s | | | | | Building News | 1 August 1890 | | | | | Glasgow Herald | 17 October 1932 | | | | | RIAS Quarterly | 1933 | 42 | Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) | p33 |
Archive References| The following archives hold material relating to this : | | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Personal information on Landless from Alexander Wright and George W Burnet WS. |
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