Ernest Chawner Bewlay was born in Birmingham, England on 18 February 1872 and was articled to Jethroe Anstice Cossins (1830-1917) from 1888 to 1892. He also attended the Architectural Association Schools in London. He then worked as assistant to George Kenrick, a quantity surveyor, from 1892 to 1894 when he established his own independent practice in Birmingham. From c.1900 he was in partnership with Frank Barry Peacock (1859-1937) and Jethroe Anstice Cossins in the architectural firm Cossins Peacock & Bewlay. Cossins subsequently withdrew from the practice and by 1916 Peacock and Bewlay were in partnership with Samuel Nathaniel Cooke (1882-1964) as Peacock Bewlay & Cooke in Birmingham. Cooke at some time also dropped out of the partnership and Peacock and Bewlay continued the practice as Peacock & Bewlay. The partnership was eventually dissolved in December 1934.
Bewlay was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1911, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1914.
In addition to his work as an architect, Bewlay was also a painter and between 1922 and 1936 exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. He died in Birmingham, Warwickshire on 18 November 1942. A memorial exhibition of his work was held at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1944.
St. Agnes Church, King's Norton ; St. Peter's Church, Maney: banks in Birmingham, Liverpool, Shrewsbury, Hurbury, Derby, Leeds, Crewe, Bristol, Rugby, Cheltenham, &c. (some 30 in ail), for the United Counties Bank, Ltd.; Yardley Almshouses; rearrangement of City of Birmingham Council Chamber; large offices and business premises for Kynoch's, Ltd., Llnde British Refrigeration Co., Ltd., &c, &c; many private houses; and villa at St. Raphaël, South of France. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
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See: Baker, Ann; Butler, Joanne and Southworth, Pat. ‘Cossins Peacock and Bewlay’ [see Bibliography below] for a selected list of architectural works by Cossins Peacock & Bewlay (pp. 239-248).
Baker, Ann; Butler, Joanne and Southworth, Pat. ‘Cossins Peacock and Bewlay’ in Birmingham’s Victorian and Edwardian Architects, edited by Phillada Ballard. Wetherby: Oblong Creative Ltd. for the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society, 2009 pp. 221-252
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Memorial exhibition of water colours by the late E.C. Bewlay, F.R.I.B.A., R.B.S.A., 1872-1942. Birmingham, England: City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1944
'Obituary'. The Architect & Building News vol. 172, 4 December 1942 p. 150
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 163, 17 November 1942 p. 468
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914