Basic Biographical Details Name: | Jonas James Bradshaw | Designation: | | Born: | 1837 | Died: | 28 April 1912 | Bio Notes: | Jonas James Bradshaw was born in 1837. He came from a liberal non-Conformist family. He was articled to the little-known Joseph Marsden in 1855 and remained with him for seven and a half years as his managing clerk before setting up on his own at 16 Nelson Street, Bolton. Living nearby was William Hesketh Lever, later to be an important client.
Bradshaw’s earliest major commissions were town workhouses, Clitheroe and Eaves Lane, Chorley, built 1868-72, the latter in association with Leigh Hall. The Clitheroe example is decent north country Italianate, Chorley much larger and French-roofed. Bradshaw’s practice was otherwise predominantly industrial but included villas and a couple of gothic country houses, Greenthorne and Watermillock, built in 1880-86, and the Spinners’ Hall in Bolton of 1880. Because of the industrial nature of the practice it was multidisciplinary from the beginning with its own structural engineer and measurer, an arrangement which was to remain a feature of the practice and which had much to do with its success. Among Bradshaw’s apprentice engineers was Joseph Parkinson (1861-1935) later to practice as an architect of skyscrapers in the USA. Bradshaw’s chief assistant for most of his career was James William Wallace (1850-1926) who formed a socialist and literary group known as the Eagle Street College at his home. It had links with Walt Whitman with whom they corresponded and with the socialist Edward Carpenter who influenced Raymond Unwin in his formative years. Wallace must have been well-paid as he visited Whitman in 1891 but he never became a partner.
By 1871 Bradshaw’s practice had outgrown the Nelson Street office and moved to 19 Silverwell Street where it still remains. In that year he was joined by his nephew John Bradshaw Gass, born in 1855 at Annan, Dumfriesshire, the son of George Pool Gass and his wife Alice who was Bradshaw’s sister. In 1902 Arthur John Hope became a partner, the practice becoming Bradshaw, Gass and Hope.
Bradshaw was admitted FRIBA on 18 January 1886, his proposers being Edward Graham Paley, Richard Knill Freeman and Ernest George.
Bradshaw died at Greenmount, Heaton on 28 April 1912, the practice title being amended to Bradshaw Gass & Hope by omitting the comma. It is unlikely that Bradshaw had designed much for the previous quarter century. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 16, Nelson Street, Bolton, Lancashire, England | Business | 1866 | | | | 19 , Silverwell Street, Bolton, Lancashire, England | Business | 1871 | | | | London, England | Business | 1903 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployersThe following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | Bradshaw & Gass | 1881 | 1902 | Partner | | | Bradshaw Gass & Hope | 1902 | 1912 | Partner | |
Employees or PupilsThe following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | John Bradshaw Gass | c. 1870(?) | 1874(?) | Apprentice | | | John Bradshaw Gass | 1875(?) | 1878(?) | Managing Assistant | |
RIBARIBA ProposersRIBA ProposalsThis proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date proposed | Notes | | John Bradshaw Gass | 11 March 1889 | for Fellowship | | Arthur John Hope | 20 July 1911 | for Licentiateship |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | British Architectural Library, RIBA | 2001 | Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 | | | | | Lingard, Jane and Timothy | 2007 | Bradshaw Gass & Hope: the Story of an Architectural Practice | | London, Gallery Lingard | | | Redman, Austen | 2007 | Bolton Civic Centre and the Classical Revival Style of Bradshaw Gass & Hope | | From Clara Hartwell and Terry Wyke (eds): Making Manchester: essays in honour of H G Archer | |
|