Architects

Name:

[James] Fenton ('Tony') Wyness

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

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Exact DOB:

15/08/1903

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Date of Death:

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03/12/1974

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Bio Notes :

[James] Fenton Wyness ('Tony') was born in Aberdeen on 15 August 1903, the son of J Morrison Wyness, and came of an old Aberdeenshire Quaker family. He was articled to James Cobban, Lord Aberdeen's Estate Architect, in 1921, transferring to the office of Brown & Watt in 1924 or 1925 (Nomination Papers conflict) to complete his apprenticeship. He studied at Aberdeen School of Architecture, Gray's School of Art and was awarded a diploma and the Byrne Scholarship in 1926, and a post-diploma in 1927. In the latter year he entered the office of Robert Leslie Rollo as an assistant, as well as spending time studying castellated architecture in Scotland and England. He sat the qualifying exam in July 1927 and was admitted ARIBA on 5 December of that year, his proposers being George Watt, James B Nicol and Robert Gordon Wilson, and commenced independent practice in 1929 at 25 Belmont Street, Aberdeen after a short period as a lecturer in the School of Architecture in 1928. By 1931 he was practising from his house at 45 Salisbury Terrace, where he lived with his sister, Alice G Murray.

Wyness's practice was small and confined to conservation projects and memorials although he did undertake specialised work for other practices, being an extremely good draughtsman. While he could be entertaining, his intolerance of compromise, strongly opinionated and somewhat touchy temperament together with his contempt for civic authority made him difficult to work with. The great interests of his life were Aberdeenshire history and archaeology and the Scout Movement. Initially these were in association with Dr W Douglas Simpson, but they soon quarrelled and it was only towards the very end of Simpson's life that there was a measure of reconciliation. As County Commissioner of Boy Scouts for the City of Aberdeen Wyness was the prime mover in the purchase of Templar's Park, Maryculter where he restored the buildings. He ultimately received the Movement's highest award, The Silver Wolf, in 1973.

Wyness published extensively in books and magazine articles, particularly the Deeside Field of which he was editor, but none of these fully reflects the depth of his scholarship. In his last years he was working on a history of architecture in Aberdeen with assistance from Norman Marr but regrettably this was never published. He also turned his hand to ceramic design, being a consultant to the Bovey Pottery Company in Devon in 1940. Wyness's other main interest was the Order of St John in which he was a Knight.

Wyness never married. In his earlier years he travelled by motor cycle in preference to a motor car. He was elected FRIBA on 12 February 1946, his proposers being John Alexander Ogg Allan, John Wittet and James Brown Nicol. He retired from architectural practice in 1964, collapsed from a heart attack on 11 March 1974 and died in Woodend Hospital on the 12th. A memorial service attended by the Lord Provost, the Marquess of Aberdeen and the Chancellor of the Order of St John was held in St Machar's Cathedral on 26 April.

Publications:
'The House of Schivas' (1928), for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
'Craigievar Castle' (1934), for the Washington Archeological Society
'A Scottish Quaker of the 17th Century' (1941)
'Aberdeen' (1942)
'Deeside' (1942)
'Donside' (1942)
'Buchan' (1942)
'Mediaeval Elgin' (1944)
'Mediaeval Edinburgh' (1944)
'Eilean Donnain Castle' (1944)
'A Buchan Tower-house' (1944)
'Kalendar of Saints: early Christian missionaries of the North-East' (1945)

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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
45 Salisbury Terrace Aberdeen Scotland	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
45 Salisbury Terrace Aberdeen Scotland	Private/business	Before 1927		Early 1970
25 Belmont Street Aberdeen Scotland	Business	1928		Before 1946

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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
Brown & Watt	200452	1924 or 1925	In year 1925	Assistant
James Cobban	200258	In year 1922	1924 or 1925	Apprentice
Robert Leslie Rollo	203510	In year 1927		Assistant

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The following individuals proposed this person for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

Proposer	Proposer Link	Date Proposed	Notes
George Watt	200454	1927/12/05	for Associateship
James Brown Nicol	203500	1927/12/05	for Associateship
Robert Gordon Wilson (junior)	200928	1927/12/05	for Associateship
John Alexander Ogg Allan	200016	1946/02/12	for Fellowship
John Wittet	202328	1946/02/12	for Fellowship
James Brown Nicol	203500	1946/02/12	for Fellowship

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This person proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Person	Date Proposed	Notes
Robert Philip Shaw	1920/07	For Associateship

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part
Scottish Biographies		1938	E J Thurston (pub.)
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1939-1940	1939	London: Royal Institute of British Architects
Municipal Annual	Scottish Municipal Annual	1964		1964-1965

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Aberdeen Press and Journal	1974/03/13	*	Obituary
Aberdeen Press and Journal	1974/04/27	*
People's Journal	1974/03/16	*	Obituary

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005	F no4140 (box 33); A no 4157 (Box 7)
Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material	Professor David M Walker personal archive	100041	Personal information from Fenton Wyness
Galletly, James	School of Architecture, Garthdee, Aberdeen, RGIT: former pupils, 1937-1970	201325

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

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Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

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RIBA Proposals

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References

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