Architects

Name:

Stirrat Andrew William Johnson-Marshall

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

19/02/1912

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Date of Death:

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Exact DOD:

16/12/1981

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Bio Notes :

Stirrat Andrew William Johnson-Marshall was born on 19 February 1912 in India, the elder son of Felix William Norman Johnson-Marshall, a civil servant of Scottish descent who administered the salt trade, and his wife Kate Jane Little. Since his father worked abroad in India and Iraq, he boarded at the Queen Elizabeth School at Kirkby Lonsdale where he excelled at sport, being captain of cricket and rugby, and was head boy.

From 1930-35 he studied architecture at the University of Liverpool. He passed the final exam in June 1935 and was awarded a First Class honours degree. As a student Johnson-Marshall was influenced by the teachings of Walter Gropius who visited Liverpool during this time. During the summer of 1934 he worked as an assistant with Mercalf & Metcalf and from August 1935 he worked as an assistant in the Architect's Department in the Borough of Willsden and later at the Isle of Ely. He was elected ARIBA in 1936, his proposers being Lionel B Budden, Leonard Holcombe Bucknell and Gilbert Henry Lovegrove. The following year he married Joan Mary Brighouse, whom had had met when she was a fellow student in the school of Architecture at Liverpool. Her father was an architect and he had worked for him during his summer holidays. The couple had three sons (his second son died young) and a daughter.

His career was interrupted by the Second World War during which he served with the Royal Engineers, latterly in Singapore from which he narrowly escaped through his own initiative the night before its capitulation. He returned to England and was posted to the camouflage development and training centre at Farnham Castle. He worked on the design and construction of decoy tanks and guns, from which he learnt much about the process of designing and manufacturing a new product which was to have a lasting effect on him and remained fundamental to his hope of a revitalised building industry.

From 1945-48 he worked as Deputy County Architect with Hertfordshire County Council, serving under the leadership of C H Aslin. With the support of a far-sighted education officer and a number of enterprising industrialists, Hertfordshire became the pioneer in the design and production of prefabricated school buildings which were evolved into efficient and elegant structures which could be adapted to many different situations. They were able to meet the need to construct a large number new schools in the post-war period far faster than traditional building methods would have allowed. The Hertfordshire schools attained world-wide fame. Johnson-Marshall was the driving force behind this initiative.

In 1948 Johnson-Marshall was invited to take the post of Chief Architect in the Ministry of Education. His experience in Hertfordshire was made available to other local authorities. The Ministry became an influential centre for research and innovation in the relationship of school building to educational methods. He established an outstanding development team which explored new problems in practical projects. In 1954 he was awarded the CBE.

However he moved away from the public sector in 1956 when he went into private practice in partnership with Sir Robert Matthew as Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall (in 1961 becoming Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall & Partners) – known as RMJM. Together they built up a practice which achieved high standards in design as well as efficiency. However the two men were very different and the two offices, in London and in Edinburgh, were run virtually separately for a number of years. Johnson-Marshall was in charge of the London office. He pursued his ideal of a better way of building through prefabrication. Among the projects in which Johnson-Marshall was personally involved and in which were the universities of York (where the earlier buildings were based on a modified version of the CLASP system) and of Bath as well as the Commonwealth institute and Central Lancashire New Town. He was elected FRIBA in April 1964, his proposers being Robert Matthew, Peter Arthur Newnham and Maurice William Lee. He was knighted in 1971. He retired from Sir Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall & Partners in 1978 and moved to Gloucestershire but continued to have a small local practice in Bristol.

In the 1950s Johnson-Marshall championed the cause of public architect members of the RIBA to make the institute into a socially concerned body which worked to improve the competence and political influence of the profession. He later served on the council and was vice-president in 1964-65.

As a person he was generous and modest but this disguised a ruthless determination to get done what he believed it was right to do. He believed that the interaction between buildings and people such as light, colour, sound, control of temperature and air movement was all important. The needs of the client were paramount and often he quoted the painter Fernand Léger when he said 'Architecture is not an art. It's a natural function of the social order'.

Johnson-Marshall died on 16 December 1981 in his Bristol office.

'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
Cloudsway/22 New Road Digswell, Welwyn Hertfordshire England	Private
Curtis Hill Hillesley Gloucestershire England	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From
Curzon Street London England	Business	c. 1954
Ferguson House/15-17 Marylebone Road London England	Business	196
42-46 Weymouth Street London England	Business	Late 197

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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
Metcalf & Metcalf	404729	1934/04	1934/09	Assistant
Borough of Willsden, Architect's Department	404728	1935/08		Assistant
Hertfordshire County Architects Office	404397	In year 1945	In year 1948	Deputy Architect
Ministry of Education	403857	In year 1948	In year 1956	Chief Architect
Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall (RMJM)	406000	In year 1956	In year 1961	Partner
Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall & Partners (RMJM)	202068	In year 1961	Late 1970s	Partner

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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
Leonard Holcombe Bucknell	100430	1936/04/02	for Associateship
Gilbert Henry Lovegrove	404744	1936/04/02	For Associateship
Lionel Bailey Budden	205397	1936/06/22	For Associateship
Robert Hogg Matthew	202067	1964/04	For Fellowship
Peter Arthur Newnham	402095	1964/06	For Fellowship
Maurice William Lee	402090	1964/06	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
George Haslehurst Lawrence (sometimes misspelt George Hazelhurst Lawrence)	1965/04/07	For Fellowship
David Plaistow Crease	1970/06/03	For Fellowship

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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
Firrhill Secondary School	In year 1956	Firrhill	Edinburgh	Scotland
St John's Boarding School	In year 1957		Singapore	Singapore
New Zealand House	In year 1957		London	England
University of Aberdeen, Masterplan	In year 1957		Aberdeen	Scotland
Commonwealth Institute	In year 1960		London	England
Hunterston B Nuclear Power Station	In year 1967		Ayrshire	Scotland
Cumnock Senior Club	c. 1969	Cumnock	Ayrshire	Scotland
Selwyn College extension	Early 1960s	Cambridge	Cambridgeshire	England
Market, 8-10 Market Street	In year 1971		Aberdeen	Scotland
Bath University			Bath	England

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Notes
RIBA	RIBA Kalendar 1953-54	1954
DNB	Dictionary of National Biography			Entry by Andrew Derbyshire
RIBA	The RIBA Kalendar 1963-64	1964
RIBA	Directory of members	1979
Glendinning, Miles	Modern architect: the life and times of Robert Matthew	2008	RIBA Publishing
Bailey, Rebecca M	Scottish architects' papers: a source book	1996	Edinburgh: The Rutland Press	p136

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Notes
Architects Journal	1952/12/18	p72
The Times	1981/12/18	p14 Obituary
The Times	1981/12/24	p8 Obituary
The Times	1981/12/22	p12 Obituary

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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
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005			A no6065, F no682 (combined Box 100?) Check this reference

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

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Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

RIBA Proposers

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

RIBA Proposals

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

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