Architects

Name:

John Jeffrey Waddell

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

04/07/1926

Year of Birth :

1876

Circa Year of Birth :

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DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

12/04/1941

Year of Death:

Circa Year of Death:

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Date of Death After (Year):

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DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):

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Bio Notes :

John Jeffrey Waddell was born in Glasgow in 1876, the son of Robert Gillan Waddell, railway branch manager and his wife Jane Jeffrey. He was at first educated privately and then at Glasgow High School. He was a nephew of Peter Macgregor Chalmers's formidable wife, Barbara Greig Steel, and so far as is known, was articled to him c.1891, studying at Glasgow School of Art under William James Anderson and at the Royal Technical College under Charles Gourlay. Whether he had any experience elsewhere is not yet known, but he first came into prominence in 1919-21 as a designer of picture houses, mainly in Glasgow. When Chalmers died on 15 March 1922 Mrs Chalmers and John Jeffrey Waddell took over the practice. They did not succeed in retaining the Paisley Abbey commission, whereafter Mrs Chalmers seems to have had no more than a financial interest in the practice, but Waddell did succeed in retaining Chalmers's Church of Scotland connections, mainly for the re-ordering of Georgian and Victorian churches on ecclesiological lines by the addition of chancels. He built relatively few churches completely anew and his only significant restoration was St Bean's (or St Beanus's) at Fowlis Wester which was his best work.

Waddell married Jean Leadbetter Swan in 1903, their first house being at Uddingston. They had two daughters, both active in the Travelling Children's Theatre and the publication of children's books, the better known being Bertha, born 1907. Waddell himself had a literary and antiquarian bent, being the author of 'By Bothwell Banks, Rambles through Lanarkshire' and a pioneer study of Alexander Thomson, published in the Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, 1925, v.III part 31-35. In his obituary he is described as architect and archaeologist; he 'discovered many ancient carved stones including the Cross of St Ninian now standing in front of Hamilton Parish Church'. In later years the Waddells lived in considerable style at Caldergrove, a sizable late Georgian country house near Cambuslang.

From c.1925 Waddell was in partnership with Thomas Peach Weir Young as Waddell & Young. The practice ended in tragedy. Around 1940 Waddell instructed an ill-advised lawsuit which he won but subsequently regretted. Although at the time there were rumours that his sudden death was suicide, the death certificate shows that he died of a cerebral thrombosis at 4.10am on 4 December 1941, at Caldergrove. His death was reported by his daughter Jenny.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From Char	Date From Type	Date To Char	Date To Type	Notes
Drumoyne Uddingston Lanarkshire Scotland	Private
Caldergrove Cambuslang Lanarkshire Scotland	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
95 Bath Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	Before 1924		After 1939

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
Peter Macgregor Chalmers	200244	c. 1891	c. 1896	Apprentice
Waddell & Young	202137	c. 1925	In year 1941	Partner

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	City or County	Country	Notes
Building plots	In year 1902	Uddingston	Lanarkshire	Scotland
Glasgow Cathedral, Grainger Memorial nave pulpit	In year 1903		Glasgow	Scotland	Executed drawing as assistant to Chalmers (see Academy Architecture 1903)
Cathedral Works	In year 1908		Glasgow	Scotland
Three-storey terraced house	c. 1910			Scotland
	In year 1918				Alterations
UP Church	In year 1918	Uddingston	Lanarkshire	Scotland	Alterations
Barncluith	In year 1918	Hamilton	Lanarkshire	Scotland	Additions
Camps Works	In year 1918	Motherwell	Lanarkshire	Scotland	Alterations, new workshop and gantry
Paragon Picture House	In year 1918		Glasgow	Scotland	Reconstruction
Newlandsfield Bleach Works	In year 1918	Pollokshaws	Glasgow	Scotland
Eglinton Street UF Church	In year 1918		Glasgow	Scotland	Negotiations over the site
Fern Villa, Wester Craigs	In year 1919	Dennistoun	Glasgow	Scotland
Castle Picture House	In year 1919	New Cumnock	Ayrshire	Scotland
Provands Lordship	In year 1919		Glasgow	Scotland	Alterations
Ferniehurst	In year 1919	Shawlands	Glasgow	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Notes
Walker, Frank Arneil	South Clyde Estuary: An Illustrated Architectural Guide to Inverclyde and Renfrew	1986		p8
Scottish Biographies		1938	E J Thurston (pub.)
Post Office Directories
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1930-1931	1930	London: Royal Institute of British Architects

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Builder		1941/12/19	*	Obituary - p546 (contains no further information about his training)

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Building Id	Item Name	Notes
Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material	Professor David M Walker personal archive	100041			Personal information from Alfred G Lochhead; additional research by Iain Paterson
Waddell Collection	National Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS	200395

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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Periodical References

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Archive References

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