Architects

Name:

William Stirling I

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

15/10/1772

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DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

05/02/1838

Year of Death:

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Bio Notes :

William Stirling I was born at Dunblane on 15 October 1772, the eldest son of James Stirling, wright and cabinetmaker, who came of a long-established Dunblane merchant family which may have had landed connections. He commenced practice as an architect builder as his father's partner c.1798, the firm then becoming James Stirling & Son, although William Stirling I practised solely under his own name from the early years of the nineteenth century. On 4 December 1803 at Kirkintilloch he married Jean Erskine, daughter of David Erskine, WS of Dundas & Wilson, who had died in 1791; her maternal grandmother was Mrs Graham of Airth, who was a Stirling of Ardoch. This brought family links with other branches of the Erskine, Stirling and Graham families, and with the related Masterton family, resulting in him gaining the architectural business of the Linlathen, Airth, Gartmore, Ardoch, Braco, Gogar and Strowan estates in addition to those of Kippendavie, Kippenross, Tillicoultry, Airthrey, Tullibody, Dunira and Cardross.

From about 1807 Stirling's practice had intermittent links with David Hamilton's. This appears to have originated at Airthrey where Stirling was replaced by Hamilton as architect but retained as contractor. Since both the calligraphy and the style of Stirling drawings becomes identical to that of the Hamilton office from about 1816, it is probable that Stirling's 'chief assistant and superintendent', his cousin William Stirling II (born c.1789), who had served his articles with him, was sent to Hamilton's office to gain experience which would bring the firm more up-to-date and designed most of the firm's work thereafter. Airth Parish Church, where they competed against Hamilton, seems to have been William II's first major design, and he appears to have done most of the designing from at least 1818, although on at least one occasion, at Lecropt, Hamilton and the Stirlings were joint architects.

From 1806 onwards Stirling began buying land and property around Dunblane and out of some eleven purchases created the small estate of Holmehill on which in 1826 he erected a fine Tudor mansionhouse, very much in the Hamilton idiom. He died on 5 February 1838 and was buried in Dunblane Cathedral Churchyard alongside his younger brother Robert who had returned from Jamaica in 1819 and had died on 27 January 1832. He probably had some part in the firm, perhaps more in an administrative capacity than an architectural one.

Stirling left a very substantial estate. In addition to the estate of Holmehill, £600 in furnishing and personal effects, and house property in Dunblane and Millrow, he left £13,338 in secured loans, bonds and accounts due and £3,300 in consolidated annuities.

The practice, though not the cabinetmaking business which seems to have been at a low ebb, was inherited by William Stirling II.

'Biography authored by the Dictionary of Scottish Architects Compilation Team.'

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
Dunblane Perthshire Scotland	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
Dunblane Perthshire Scotland	Private/business

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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	Notes
William Stirling II	201758	Before 1816	In year 1838
William Stirling II	201758	c. 1803	c. 1807	Apprentice

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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
Logie Manse	In year 1801	Logie	Stirlingshire	Scotland	First scheme
Woodside	c. 1801			Scotland	Alterations and additions
Dunira	In year 1802		Perthshire	Scotland	Based on scheme by Henry Holland, London
Comrie Lodge	In year 1803	Comrie	Perthshire	Scotland
Logie Manse	In year 1803	Logie	Stirlingshire	Scotland	Executed scheme
Cardross House and stables	c. 1803		Perthshire	Scotland	New entrance and alterations and new stables
Tullibody House	c. 1803	Clackmannan	Clackmannanshire	Scotland
Airth House, stable block	In year 1804		Perthshire	Scotland
Strowan House	In year 1804	Crieff (near)	Perthshire	Scotland
House for Mr Alvis	In year 1804			Scotland
Alva House, stables	In year 1805	Alva	Stirlingshire	Scotland
Logie Parish Church	In year 1805	Logie	Stirlingshire	Scotland	Original church
Logie School	In year 1805	Logie	Stirlingshire	Scotland
Woodend House and farm	In year 1806	Madderty	Perthshire	Scotland
Dunblane Cathedral	In year 1806	Dunblane	Perthshire	Scotland	Proposed alterations and repairs

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Love, J	Local Antiquarian Notes and Queries	1928	Falkirk: Falkirk Library		Volume III, p154
Pride, Glen L	The Kingdom of Fife	1999	The Rutland Press	2nd Edition	p25, p26, p186
Colvin, H M	A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840	1995	New Haven and London: Yale University Press	3rd edition
Walker, David	The Stirlings of Dunblane and Falkirk: Fragments of five architectural biographies	1972	in the Bulletin of the Scottish Georgian Society, Volume 1, 1972
Barty, A B	A History of Dunblane	1944			pp 219 and 231-2

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
Practice Accounts notebook of the Stirlings, 1801-17	Airth muniments, National Library of Scotland	200678
Dunblane Sheriff Court Books	National Archives of Scotland (formerly SRO)	200681	1838
Perthshire Sasines	200765	200765	Perthshire

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 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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