Basic Biographical Details

Name:	Field & Burnet
Designation:
Born:	1880
Died:	1882
Bio Notes:	William Cadell (or Caddel) Burnet was born in 1828, the youngest child of George Burnet, sometime of the Kirkcudbright and Galloway militia, and his wife Margaret Wardlaw, who was the daughter of a Dalkeith merchant. He was presumably articled to his brother John Burnet Senior, who was fourteen years older, when the latter set up practice in 1842 or 1843, and may have remained with him as an assistant. In December 1865 Burnet was appointed architectural clerk to the Royal Commission on the new Law Courts, replacing Alfred Waterhouse who had resigned as a result of being nominated as a competitor: this appointment indicates that he must previously have held a post of some standing, probably in the Office of Works, but he cannot be the same person as the William Burnett who was appointed to Windsor District in 1840 and to Chelsea in 1845 as assumed by M H Port and J M Crook and by Brownlee (see M H Port and J M Crook, 'The History of the King's Works', Vol 6, 1782-1851, p 221) as he was not old enough. Burnet then set up practice as architect and surveyor at 14 Duke Street, Westminster until premises closer to the site of the law courts were found for him in the following year at 5 Portugal Street and 33 Lincoln's Inn Fields. In his capacity as the Commission's clerk he either made or completed a study of continental courts of justice, concluded they were not large enough to be relevant, and assisted the Commission in drawing up the brief; erected a temporary building in New Square, Lincoln's Inn Fields to exhibit the competition designs; and recommended George Pownall as statistical assessor. After George Edmund Street was selected as architect he worked with him on the planning of the revised design and reported on it in January 1869, but subsequently enraged him when he drew out a possible reduction of his scheme; and together with Pownall he successfully argued against the alternative Embankment location on the grounds that there was a risk of financial loss on the resale of the Carey Street site. Burnet must have retained material from his clerkship, as he appears to have made a copy of William Burges's printed competition folio available to his brother John when the latter was commissioned to design the Glasgow Stock Exchange in 1874-75. This did not escape Burges's notice as he pasted Burnet's scheme within his own copy of the folio. It may also have been through William Burnet's London connection that John Burnet became Glasgow correspondent for the Architectural Publication Society's Dictionary, although it is equally possible that he was approached simply as one of its few Scottish subscribers. William Burnet does not appear to have sought membership of the RIBA. During his engagement on the Law Courts he appears to have been engaged in speculative development in South Hampstead with the elder Horace Field (1823-79), architect and district surveyor of Putney, who came of a family of Hampstead solicitors and was a younger brother of Edwin Wilkins Field, a distinguished solicitor who was the Royal Commission's unsalaried clerk. Burnet lived first at 20 Adelaide Road (1867 to 1880), and later at 16 Eton Villas, Provost Road (1881 to 1888). He was probably responsible for building these, but the elevations were specified by the Eton College estate surveyor, the architect John Shaw. In 1871 Burnet built his best-known commission, the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Throgmorton Street; and at the end of his law courts commitments he moved office to 15 Coleman Street, where his elder brother George had established himself as a merchant in 1869, trading as George Burnet & Co. They shared that address until 1876 or 1877 when George moved his business to the United States where the second brother, Gilbert, had already settled. William remained in Coleman Street, combining practice with the agency of the Cape Colony Emigration Office, moving to 10 Blomfield Street, Finsbury from 1878. In 1877, probably on William Burnet's advice, Horace Field had his son of the same name articled to Burnet's elder brother John in Glasgow, to enable him to benefit from his son John James Burnet's return from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; but there may have been an earlier connection between the Fields and the Burnets as the elder Field's wife came from Glasgow. Two years later, in 1879, the elder Field died, William Burnet taking over his practice on a temporary basis in 1880-82 under the practice title of Field & Burnet. This was to enable Horace Field Junior to complete his articles with Colonel Robert William Edis and 'learn English ways' for the resumption of his father's practice in 1883 in partnership with their chief assistant Edwin Emanuel More (not in the British Architectural Library/RIBA 'Directory of British Architects 1834-1914') who was older and more experienced. William Burnet briefly practised alone thereafter.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
	Address	Type	Date from	Date to	Notes
	London, England	Business

Employment and Training

Employees or Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details):
	Name	Date from	Date to	Position	Notes
	William Cadell Burnet (or William Caddel Burnet)	1880	1882	Partner

References

Currently, there are no references for this . The information has been derived from: the British Architectural Library / RIBA Directory of British Architects 1834-1914; Post Office Directories; and/or any sources listed under this individual's works.