Architects

Name:

John Henderson

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

03/01/1804

Year of Birth :

Circa Year of Birth :

Date of Birth Before (Year):

Date of Birth After (Year):

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DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

27/06/1862

Year of Death:

Circa Year of Death:

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Bio Notes :

John Henderson was born at The Den Nursery, Brechin on 1 March 1804, the son of one of Lord Panmure's gardeners at Brechin Castle, also John Henderson, and Agnes Thomson. He served his apprenticeship as a carpenter and after studying drawings and building construction and erecting the steeple of the parish church at Arbroath in 1831 spent some years as an assistant in the office of Thomas Hamilton until setting up on his own account in 1835. Much of his early work was in areas within Lord Panmure's influence or from family connections. He appears to have taken on an assistant, John Nicol, in about 1833 who remained with him until about 1836 or 37. Although expert in neo-Jacobean design from the start, Henderson's neo-Gothic work was at first was of a very non-academic Georgian Gothic kind; but from 1843, when he received the commission for Trinity College Glenalmond, he became the foremost and for some years the only native-born exponent of Tractarian Gothic in Scotland, principally in the Early English and Mid Decorated styles. He was one of the eight applicants for the post of head of the Edinburgh office of the Office of Works in 1848, though without success.

Henderson died at 7 Greenhill Park on 27 June 1862 and was buried at Grange. His wife, Hannah Matilda Exley (born 1 January 1821 at Hull), whom he had married on 4 December 1843, survived him, dying in Edinburgh on 12 December 1894. Their son George, a sixteen-year-old apprentice at the time of his father's death, was unable to continue the business. He completed his apprenticeship with David Cousin, a near-neighbour in Greenhill, who seems to have taken over at least some of the work in hand, though not the office records which were retained by his widow: Sir G G Scott took over at Glenalmond and, Cousin being a Free Church man, the Episcopal church building connection was lost to Scott's pupil Robert Rowand Anderson.

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
Greenhill Park Edinburgh Scotland	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To
1 Blenheim Place Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1833 or 1834
6 Union Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1834 or 1835	1835 or 1836
16 London Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1836	c. 1841\|1842
8 Duke Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1842\|1843	c. 1845\|1846
73 Queen Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1846\|1847	c. 1851\|1852
7 Hill Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1852\|1853	c. 1862

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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
Thomas Hamilton	200330	c. 1831	In year 1835	Assistant

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

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position
William Hay	201139	In year 1844	In year 1846	Assistant
George Henderson	201140	In year 1861	In year 1862	Apprentice
James Milne Monro	200122	c. 1855	c. 1862	Apprentice
Alexander Davidson	201149			Apprentice
John Nicol	207499		c. 1836	Assistant

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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
Denfield	1830s	Arbroath	Angus	Scotland	Attribution on stylistic grounds by David Walker - similarity of pinnacles over angle pilasters to Highland & Agricultural Society building in Edinburgh.
Kilmabreck Parish Church	In year 1831	Creetown	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland
Arbroath Parish Church	In year 1831	Arbroath	Angus	Scotland	Steeple
Samuel Douglas Free School	In year 1834	Newton Stewart	Wigtownshire	Scotland
St Andrew's Church	In year 1835	Greenock	Renfrewshire	Scotland	Build/Construction
1,3 George IV Bridge	In year 1836		Edinburgh	Scotland
Morningside Parish Church	In year 1836	Morningside	Edinburgh	Scotland
Christ Church Episcopal Church	In year 1836	Mile End	Glasgow	Scotland
Bannockburn Chapel of Ease	In year 1837	Bannockburn	Stirlingshire	Scotland
St Mary's Church	In year 1837	Dumfries	Dumfriesshire	Scotland
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church	In year 1837		Edinburgh	Scotland	Original church
Natural History Museum	In year 1837	Montrose	Angus	Scotland
Scott Monument	In year 1837		Edinburgh	Scotland	Unsuccessful competition design exhibited
Stable and Coachouse, Greenock	In year 1837	Greenock	Renfrewshire	Scotland
Carnock Parish Church	In year 1838	Carnock	Fife	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Post Office Directories
Willingham, Allan	Two Scots in Victoria: the architecture of Davidson and Henderson	1983			Willingham draws on letters formerly in the possession of Mrs Elizabeth Stella Philliips, since destroyed by her executors.
DNB	Dictionary of National Biography
Maclean, Allan	The Scottish Episcopal Church and the Ecclesiological Movement 1840-1860	1997	Architectural Heritage, VIII, pp47-59	v VIII
Pride, Glen L	The Kingdom of Fife	1999	The Rutland Press	2nd Edition	p20, p45, p46
Walker, Frank Arneil	South Clyde Estuary: An Illustrated Architectural Guide to Inverclyde and Renfrew	1986			p127, p143
Scotlands People Website	Wills & Testaments				Edinburgh Sheriff Court Inventories SC70/1/114 and Edinburgh Sheriff Court Wills SC70/4/84

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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
Hay and Henderson Collection	National Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS	200139

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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Archive References

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