William Swinden Barber
William Swinden Barber FRIBA, also W. S. Barber or W. Swinden Barber, was an English Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts architect, specialising in modest but finely furnished Anglican churches, often with crenellated bell-towers. He was based in Brighouse and Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. At least 15 surviving examples of his work are Grade II listed buildings, including his 1875 design for the Victoria Cross at Akroydon, Halifax. An 1864 portrait by David Wilkie Wynfield depicts him in Romantic garb, holding a flower. He served in the Artists Rifles regiment in the 1860s alongside Wynfield and other contemporary artists.
Background
Ancestors
Barber's great-great-grandfather was Joshua Barber. Joshua was the ancestor of three main branches of the West Yorkshire Barber family: at Southowram, Brighouse and Rastrick. William Swinden Barber was descended from the Southowram branch, and he produced work at Brighouse and Rastrick.Joshua's second child, baptised at Cleckheaton Independent Chapel, was John who was William Swinden Barber's great-grandfather. John married Sarah Schofield and their seventh child was William.
Barber's grandfather was William Barber, baptised at the same chapel. He arrived at Halifax from Mirfield around 1797 when he married Ann Charlton of Dewsbury. They had eight children, of whom John was the third. They moved to Barker Royde at Southowram and lived in an eighteenth-century farmhouse called Barker Royde Farm; it incorporates a stone on which is carved "WB 1849." Close to the farmhouse, William built a four-storey mill called Barker Royde Mill, to make carding equipment and belting for the mechanised woollen industry. This mill was constructed during William Swinden Barber's childhood, when he would have witnessed and possibly been inspired by the works. The 1841 census finds William Barber at Barker Royde Farm, aged 75 with his wife Mary aged 70 and his daughter Sarah aged 30. William and his wife are described as being of independent means. They have two employees with them: an agricultural labourer and a servant.
Barber's father was John Barber. On 19 April 1831 he married Sally "Sarah" Swinden at Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. William Swinden Barber was their only child. In 1841 he was at Valley Top at Southowram with his wife Sarah; both are listed in the Census as 40 years of age and John is described as independent. Ann Barber, aged 25, described as a servant, is with them, but their son William Swinden Barber is absent. John was a card-maker at Southowram at Barker Royde Mill with his father William: a joint mill-owner. In 1845 he was living at Slead Cottage, Chapel Lane, Southowram. The 1851 Census finds John, a card manufacturer aged 50, and his wife Sarah aged 55 living at 38 Lark Field, Hipperholme with Brighouse, with their son William Swinden Barber, an apprentice architect aged 19. Their house servant Ann Barber is still with them. John was a card-maker; that is, he made carding equipment for the wool industry at Lark Field and at Victoria Mill, Brighouse. In 1861 John and Sarah, aged 60 and 67, were still at Lark Field. They had two servants and John was still a card-maker employing twelve men and two boys. In 1871 John was still at Lark Field with Sarah and two servants, but had retired. John and his son William Swinden Barber bought Bonegate Hall at Brighouse. In 1881 John a widower aged 80, now a retired card maker, was living in Hipperholme with Brighouse with one servant.
Barber and his wife
Barber was baptised on 29 March 1832 at Southowram. He married Anne "Anita" Byrne of Slead Hall, Brighouse on 10 October 1877 at Easton Grey, near Malmesbury in Wiltshire. She was the eldest daughter of Henry Byrne. Barber died in Portsmouth on 26 November 1908, aged 76 years, and Anita died aged 80 in 1909 at Pontefract; they had no descendants.Barber lived in London between 1857 and at least 1863. In 1860 he was living at 12 Buckingham Street, Adelphi, London WC. This is possibly the same address as Hanover Chambers, Buckingham Street, where he was living in 1861.
In 1864, at the age of 32 years, he posed for a portrait by David Wilkie Wynfield, who was dressing his artist friends from St John's Wood in Romantic garb and photographing them. Barber's image was described as "charming, high camp" and one of the "most eccentric" of all Winfield's images at a National Portrait Gallery exhibition in 2000.
From 1869 to 1872 he was living at Stoney Royd, Southowram, Halifax, and still owned Slead Cottage. The 1871 Census finds Barber as an architect aged 39 living at 67 Stoney Royd, Southowram, with a widowed housekeeper Jane McIvor. From 1885 to 1897 he was registered as living at Farfield House, Shaw Hill, Halifax, and registered to vote at Wike as he owned freehold buildings and land at Wike Lane there. With his father he bought Bonegate Hall, Brighouse, then he built Farfield for himself; It stands opposite the Stafford Arms in Huddersfield Road, Halifax, and has now been converted into apartments. In 1881 the head of the household at Farfield was Horace Melville Smith, a solicitor who became bankrupt in 1884 and escaped to Spain. In 1891 Barber was living at Farfield House aged 58 with his wife named as "Annie" aged 57 and two servants. In 1891 he owned freehold shops and dwelling houses in Briggate, Brighouse, and by 1897 he owned Lower Wike Farm. By 1898 he had moved to Letcombe, Southsea, Hampshire but still owned houses and shops in Brighouse. By 1901 he was 68, Anne was 69 and they were living comfortably at 3 South Parade in Southsea. They had a cook, parlourmaid and two servants.United Kingdom Census 1901: RG13/990/p.10 After Barber died at Southsea in 1908, he left £35,874 0s 3d. This was adjusted to £36,231 9s 5d..
Professional life
He became ARIBA in January 1860, and FRIBA on 17 November 1873. He had a long career working from Brighouse and Halifax, producing designs for building and renovation work from 1855 to 1898.Artistic motivations
and Arts and Crafts artists working in northern England in the last half of the 19th century were in some ways rebelling against the uncontrolled progress, noise, smoke, mechanisation and materialism of the Industrial Revolution. They looked back to a more spiritual Golden Age of Romantic fairy stories of magic, knights and castles, and revelled in hand-made artefacts. Many of Barber's works reflect this, with their castellated towers and interiors of elegant carvings and jewel-coloured glass, all of which he designed and commissioned himself. However, all this had to be paid for, and clients' money was often ultimately sourced from the great mills and sweated labour of Victorian West Yorkshire; an example of this is Spring Hall, Halifax, designed by Barber and funded by Tom Holdsworth of John Holdsworth & Co. Ltd.Works in partnership
He was in partnership as architect and surveyor at Hanover Chambers, Buckingham Street, London with Irish architect John Philpot Jones from 1857 until 3 March 1859 when the partnership was dissolved due to bankruptcy or insolvency. In 1859 Jones' plans for Bishop Auckland Town Hall were traced and adapted without his permission. Jones later worked with William Henry Crossland from 1868 to 1872 and from 1870 with Edward Salomons. Jones was involved in designs of the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Newfoundland, of Holloway Sanatorium near Virginia Water, Surrey and of Manchester Reform Club.Barber then worked in partnership with James Mallinson from a date between 1862 and 1868 at 9 George Street, Halifax. The partnership was dissolved by mutual consent in 1871.
The following is an incomplete list of Barber's works within partnerships.
Church of the Holy Trinity, Lee, London, 1863
This church in Glenton Road, Lee, Lewisham, London, was designed by Barber while in partnership with Mallinson between 1862 and 1863. The church sustained war damage in 1944; it was in use until 1948, and was demolished in 1960.Civic Hall, Brighouse, 1866
This is a Grade II listed building. This building, on the corner of Bradford Road and Bethel Street, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, was designed in 1866 by Mallinson & Barber at a cost of £7,000 and opened in 1868 as the Town Hall and municipal offices. Also known as the Savoy Buildings, it housed eight shops in a ground-floor hall alongside Brighouse Mechanics Institute. By 1880 it had become a theatre, and by 1898 it was home to the Magistrate's Court. Between 1902 and 1959 it was the Savoy Cinema. The Council bought it back in 1960, and it became the Civic Hall in 1968. The front was restored in 1999, it was refurbished again in 2007.Causey Hall or Halifax Parish Church Day School, 1867
This is a Grade II listed building. It was built in Upper Kirkgate, Halifax, as Halifax Parish Church Day School, and is also known as Causey Hall, or Church School, Upper Kirkgate. It stands close to Halifax Parish Church of St John the Baptist which is in Dispensary Walk, Church Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire. It was designed by Mallinson & Barber as a Gothic Revival school for 805 children at a cost of £5,000 and opened on 10 June 1867. The ground floor was a covered playground, and it had two classrooms and a by school hall. The school closed in 1959, and the building became a church hall and verger's flat in 1962. As of 2007 it was to be restored at a cost of £140,000.Church of Emmanuel, Shelley, 1865–69
This is a Grade II listed building. The design for this Gothic Revival building on Huddersfield Road, Shelley, West Yorkshire, was begun by Henry Mallinson in 1865, then completed by Barber in 1868. The church has a peal of six bells, made by John Taylor & Co and weighing a total of 43 cwt. These arrived on 31 August 1868; they were carted from Shepley railway station to the church by decorated horses, accompanied by a brass band. The bells were consecrated before the church. The inscription on the tenor bell says: "Emmanuel Church Shelley consecrated Sept 4th 1868." The church was consecrated at 11 am on Wednesday 9 September 1868 by the Bishop of Ripon, attended by 22 local clergymen. There was a peal of the new Shelley bells, an anthem by the Huddersfield Parish Church choir, and a luncheon for the faithful, followed by toasts and speeches. The building cost was £3,000, including £200 for the east chancel window, £230 for the organ and £420 for the bells. The tulip-shaped font was a gift from Charles Hey of Grice, Shelley, and in 1894 a carved oak lid was added. The masons in 1868 were Messrs Moorhouse, the joiner was James Swallow, the plumbers were Brook & Co. The painter was Mr Quarmby, William Thornton provided the heating and Abel Addy was the smith for the ironwork. It is constructed of "Hammer dressed stone with ashlar dressings and quoins" and the roof is of slate. The battlemented tower has a very short spire and shows three tiers including louvred bell chamber windows, and it has clock faces and a south entrance. The nave has a large, four-light west window, a rose window and other windows with tracery, and its main feature is the arch-braced hammerbeam roof. The chancel arch includes pairs of colonettes made of red granite on corbels.The Shelley war memorial is situated in the lych gate. Some of the graves have been indexed. In the past, the chancel had a red and pink ceiling.