Basic Biographical Details

Name: Charles Sydney Spooner
Designation:  
Born: 1862
Died: 1938
Bio Notes: Charles Sydney Spooner was born in 1862, the second of the five children of Charles Spooner, land agent, and his wife Sarah Frances Trinder of 1 Girdlers Road, Brook Green, Hammersmith. The Spooner family were influential academics and clergymen. At the age of nineteen in 1881 he was articled to the church architect Arthur Blomfield remaining with him as assistant from 1885. The following year he became an assistant to John Dixon Butler, architect to the Metropolitan Police.

In 1887 Spooner was elected to the Art Workers Guild. In 1890 he was elected to the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society; won the Royal Academy Travelling Studentship; and set up in independent practice at 50 Queen Anne’s Gate.

In July 1900 he married Minnie Dibdin Davison, a painter, sculptor and designer, setting up house together in Chiswick Mall. They worked together on many projects as co-designers. Their close friends included C F A Voysey, Christopher Whall and Louis Davis. Spooner had professional connections with W D Caröe, Walter Tapper, Henry Wilson, Fred Rowntree and Arthur Penty.

Spooner designed churches at Hadleigh, Suffolk; Ipswich; Little Ilford (demolished 1990); Haslemere; Maldon (RC) (entirely replaced); Letchworth (RC); Wanstead; and East Ham. He added the chancel at Rye Harbour, and doubled the size of Upton Park (demolished 1968). He carried out repairs at a number of other churches, including Cheddington (Herts); St Mary, Hadleigh; and St George’s, Queen Square. He decorated and designed furnishings notably glass, furniture and wall paintings at Exton (Hants); the rood screen, reredos and baptistery screen at St Anselm, Hatch End; the south aisle altar piece at St Leonard’s, Bridgnorth; a screen and font cover at St John, Pinner; and a screen at Holy Innocents, Hammersmith. He worked with C C Winmill on the refurbishment of the roof at Barking Parish Church. He designed war memorials at Hadleigh (Suffolk) and Ranby (Notts). He worked on the cottages, houses and the church in the village of Westmill (Herts) off and on for 40 years.

He designed houses at Bury, Sussex (destroyed by fire); the vicarage, Aldershot; Rushmere, Ipswich (demolished); Hindhead; and country cottages at Kilve, Somerset; Worbarrow, Dorset; Burwash, Sussex; Tilford, Surrey; and Leighton Buzzard. He also designed estate cottages at Bawdsey, Suffolk; a suburban ‘ideal home’ at Gidea Park; and a farm at Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire.


Spooner taught furniture design at the LCC Central School of Arts and Crafts c1898-1930. He was a member of the Consulting Architects panel of the Incorporated Church Building Society 1909-38, and advised on plans for hundreds of new churches. He was also on the SPAB committee. In 1911 ''Recent English and Ecclesiastical Architecture'' was published, under the names of Spooner and another church architect, Sir Charles Nicholson.

Spooner died in 1938.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 1London, EnglandBusiness   

RIBA

RIBA Proposers

The following individuals proposed this for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate proposedNotes
Item 1 of 3John Belcher1906For Fellowship
Item 2 of 3William Richard Lethaby1906For Fellowship
Item 3 of 3Charles Harrison Townsend1906For Fellowship

RIBA Proposals

This proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate proposedNotes
Item 1 of 3Courtenay Melville Crickmer29 March 1911for Licentiateship
Item 2 of 3Courtenay Melville Crickmer2 December 1912for Fellowship
Item 3 of 3Douglas Woodville Rowntree3 March 1919for Associateship

Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 11908Forgan Parish ChurchyardForgan FifeScotlandRebuilding of enclosure and Berry burial ground

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this :
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 2Graves, Algernon1905The Royal Academy of Arts: a complete dictionary of exhibitors and their works…1905-6London: Graves and Bell 
Item 2 of 2Gray, A Stuart1985Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary   

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this :
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 3Architect and Building News6 January 1939  p6 (Obituary)
Item 2 of 3Builder6 January 1939  p21 (Obituary)
Item 3 of 3RIBA Journal28 January 1939 London: Royal Institute of British Architectsp311

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this :
 SourceArchive NameSource Catalogue No.Notes
Item 1 of 1Biography courtesy and copyright of Alec HamiltonInformation sent via DSA website Sent August 2009