George Frederick Bodley was born in Hull, England on 14 March 1827. After leaving school in 1845, he was a pupil of George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) for five years. He then remained with Scott until 1856 when he set up his own practice in London. From 1869 to 1897 he was in partnership with Thomas Garner (1839-1906) as Bodley & Garner.
Together with George Gilbert Scott II and John Dando Sedding, Bodley was, wrote Gavin Stamp, "one of the three architects principally responsible for undermining the hegemony of High Victorian Gothic" [Stamp, Grove Art Online]. His output was confined almost exclusively to church architecture, and he was closely associated with the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England.
Bodley was responsible for giving Morris, Marshall, Morris & Co. their first commissions for stained glass windows in his early churches. These included St. Michael's in Selsley (1859-62), and St. Martin's on the hill in Scarborough (1861-63).
In addition to their work as architects, in 1874, Garner and Bodley, with Gilbert Scott, Jnr. (1839-1897), also established Watts & Co. an interior decoration company that designed and produced textiles, wallpaper, embroideries and stained glass. The business had premises at 30 Baker Street, Portman Square, London. In its originality of design, the work created by Watts & Co. has been compared with that produced by Morris & Co.
The Bodley & Garner architectural partnership was dissolved by mutual agreement in 1898 following Garner's conversion to Roman Catholicism
Bodley exhibited on several occasions at the Royal Academy in London between 1854 and 1907 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1882 and a full Academician (RA) in 1902. He was alsoi elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1869. He died in Water Eaton, Oxfordshire on 21 October 1907.
Among new churches designed by Bodley were Christ Church, Long Grove, Herefordshire (1854–56); St John the Baptist Church, Dimmelsdale, France Lynch, Gloucestershire (1854–58); Church of St Michael and All Angels, Brighton, Sussex (1855); St Salvador's Church, Dundee, Scotland (1857-74); All Saints' Church, Selsley, Gloucestershire (1860–68); St Martin on the Hill, Scarborough, Yorkshire (1861–62); St Martin on the Hill, Scarborough, Yorkshire (1861–62); St Wilfrid's Church, Haywards Heath, Sussex (1861–65); St Stephen's Church, St Peter Port, Guernsey with Benjamin Ferrey (1861–66); St Mary & St Mary Magdalene's Church, Brighton (1862); All Saints' Church, Jesus Lane, Cambridge (1863–70); St Simon's Church, St Helier, Jersey (1865–71); Church of Saint John the Baptist, Liverpool (1867–70); All Saints' Church, Falsgrave, Scarborough, Yorkshire (1867–74); Church of Saint John the Baptist, Liverpool (1868–70); St David's Cathedral, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia (1868–1936); St Michael's Church, Folkestone, Kent with Thomas Garner (1871–73); St Augustine's Church, Pendlebury near Manchester, Lancashire with Thomas Garner (1871); Church of the Holy Angels, Hoar Cross, Staffordshire with Thomas Garner (1872); St Michael's Church, Camden Town, London with Thomas Garner (1879–8); St German's Church, Roath, Cardiff with Thomas Garner (1880–86); St Alban's Church, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire with Thomas Garner (1885–86); Marlborough College chapel with Thomas Garner (1886); The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire (1886–89); St Saviour's Church, Splott, Cardiff with Thomas Garner (1887–95); Ascension Church, Woodlands, Dorset with Thomas Garner (1889–92); St Mary of Eton Church, Hackney Wick, London with Thomas Garner (1889–92); Queens' College chapel, Cambridge (1891); St Mary's Church, Horbury, Yorkshire with Thomas Garner (1892–93); St Luke's Church, Warrington, Lancashire with Thomas Garner (1892–94); St Aidan's Church, Skelmanthorpe, Yorkshire with Thomas Garner (1892–95); Holy Innocents Church, South Norwood (1894–95); St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road, Oxford (1894–1902); St Matthew's Church Chapel Allerton, Leeds, Yorkshire (1897); All Saints' Church, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset (1898–1902); St Mary's Church, Eccleston, Cheshire (1899); St Bride's Church, Glasgow, Scotland (1899); Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London with Cecil Greenwood Hare (1901); Mission Church, Hadley End, Staffordshire (1901); St Boniface's Church, Chandler's Ford, Hampshire (1901–10); St Aidan's Church, Bristol, Gloucestershire (1903–04); St Edward's Church, Holbeck, Leeds (1903–04); St Chad's Church, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire with Cecil Greenwood Hare (1903–10); St Faith's Church, Brentford, London with Cecil Greenwood Hare (1905); The Paraclete Church, Hom Green, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire (1905–06); Bedford School chapel (1906–07); and Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., with Henry Vaughan (1907).
Bodley also worked on the restoration, repair, remodelling and furnishing of numerous church buildings including new vestry, furnishing and repair work for St James' Church, Bicknor, Kent (1859-63); rebuilding of All Saints' Church, Coddington, Nottinghamshire (1863-65); repair of St James' Church, Wigmore, Herefordshire (1864-65); repair of Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge (1864-67); repair of St Michael & All Angels Church, Kingsland, Herefordshire: (1866-67); repair of St Mary's Church, Almeley, Herefordshire, with Thomas Garner (1868-70); repair of St Nicholas's Church, South Kilworth, Leicestershire (1868-70); repair of St Mary the Virgin, Barnsley, Yorkshire (1870-71); repair of St Michael's Church, Lyonshall, Herefordshire (1870-73); repair and additions to St Mark's Church, Bilton, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner (1871-72); repair of Church of St Mary Magdalene, Keyworth, Nottinghamshire (1871-72); repair of St Laurence's Church, Rowington, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner (1871-72); interior of St John the Divine, Kennington, London (1874); rebuilding of chantry chapel of St Swithun's Church, East Retford Nottinghamshire (1873); decoration and new organ case,Church of St Mary the Virgin, Plumtree, Nottinghamshire, with Thomas Garner (1873-75); restoration and additions to St Michael's Church, Shalbourne, Berkshire, with Thomas Garner (1873-79); new chancel and repair to St Helen's Church, Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire (1874); repair to St Peter & St Paul's Church, Langham, Rutland, with Thomas Garner (1874-78); repair to St Laurence's Church, Oxhill, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner (1876-79); restoration of St Wilfrid's Church, Hickleton, Yorkshire (1876–88); restoration of St Swithen's Church, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire (1880); restoration of St Laurence's Church, Frodsham, with Thomas Garner (1880-83); repair and additions to All Saints' Church, Nettleham, Lincolnshire, with Thomas Garner (1881-84); rebuilding of All Saints' Church, Bedworth, Warwickshire, with Thomas Garner (1882-90); Restoration of St Mary's Church, Clifton, Nottinghamshire (1884); restoration to St Michael's Church, Kirk Langley, Derbyshire, with Thomas Garner (1885); repair of St Manakneu's Church, Lanreath, Cornwall, with Thomas Garner (1886-88); repairs and additions to St Giles' Church, Mountnessing, Essex, with Thomas Garner (1889-91); rebuilding of St John the Baptist Church, Epping, Essex (1889-92); interior of St John the Divine, Kennington, London (1890); chapter house for St Mary's Church, Nottingham (1890); addition of Pusey chapel to St Saviour's Church, Ellerby Road, Leeds (1890); enlargement of St Andrew's Church, Chelmondiston, Suffolk, with Thomas Garner (1890-99); repairs and additions to All Saints' Church, St Paul's Walden, Hertfordshire, with Thomas Garner (1891-1905); new chancel for Holy Trinity Church, Markbeech, Kent (1892); additions to St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge (1892); additions to St Martin's Church, Womersley, Yorkshire (1895); new chancel for St George in the Meadows, Nottingham (1897); additions to St Bartholomew's Church, Wilmslow (1898); reconstruction of main tower of Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford, Suffolk (1898-1903); additions to St Bartholomew's Church, Reading, Berkshire (1898-1905); repairs and additions to St Paul's Church, Bedford. Bedfordshire (1898-1905); repairs to All Saints' Church, East Horndon, Essex (1899-1901); repairs to St Carantoc's Church, Crantock, Cornwall, with Edmund Harold Sedding (1899-1904); repairs to St Nicholas' Church, Little Bowden, Northamptonshire (1901-02); enlargement of St Peter's Church, Hartshorne, Derbyshire (1901); rebuilding of St Mary's Church, Whitkirk, Leeds (1901); repair of St Mary the Virgin, Barton Mills, Suffolk (1902-05); additions to Christ Church, Mold Green, Kirkheaton, Yorkshire (1903-04); restoration and enlargement of St Bartholomew's Church, Elvaston, Derbyshire (1904); additions to St Nicholas' Church, Skirbeck, Lincolnshire (1905-07); restoration of the tower of Church of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Souldern, Oxfordshire (1906); additions to Holy Angels Church, Lilliput Road, Poole, Dorset (1906); additions to St Barnabas Church, Pimlico, London (1906); new reredos for St Barnabas Church, Hove, Sussex (1907); and addition of the Kedleston Chapel to the north of the nave of All Saints Church, Kedleston, Derbyshire (1907-09).
Bodley designed a number of vicarages including at Scarborough, Yorkshire (1866–67); Valley End, Surrey (1866).
His non-ecclesiastical work included villas in Great Malvern, Worcestershire (1868–89); offices for the London School Board, Victoria Embankment, London (1872-76); River House in Chelsea, London (1876-79); and the restoration of Ham House at Richmond, Surrey (1889–90), and Powis Castle, Montgomeryshire (1901–07).
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See also:
Wikimedia Commons [link below]
Historic England [link below]
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North East of England: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2013
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North West of England: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2006
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in Yorkshire: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2013
Architecture, a profession or an art? Thirteen short essays on the qualifications and training of architects. Edited by R. Norman Shaw and Thomas G Jackson. London : J. Murray, 1892
Bodley, G. F. 'Architectural study asnd the examination test in Architecture. A Profession or an Art: Thirteen Short Essays on the Qualifications and Training of Architects. Edited by R. Norman Shaw and T. G. Jackson. London: John Murray, 1892 pp. 55-70
Bodley, G. F. ‘On Some Principles and Characteristics of Ancient Architecture and Their Application to the Modern Practice of the Art’. The Builder vol. 108, 28 February 1885 pp.294-96.
Cole, David. Handlists of the Works of British Architects. 1: G.F. Bodley, T. Garner, & C.G. Hare. London: Union Publications, 1972.
Collins, David Mark. The architecture of George Frederick Bodley, 1827-1907 and Thomas Garner, 1839-1906. Ph.D. thesis, 1992
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
Fisher, Michael. Vision of Splendour : Gothic Revival in Staffordshire, 1840-90. Stafford: Michael Fisher, 1995 [The book examines in detail the work of George Gilbert, A.W.N. Pugin, George Edmund Street, G.F. Bodley and Richard Norman Shaw in Staffordshire]
George Frederick Bodley, 1827-1907, Thomas Garner, 1839-1906, and Cecil Greenwood Hare, 1875-1932. A list of their architectural works. London, England: RIBA, 2nd edition, 1959
Hall, Michael. George Frederick Bodley and the Later Gothic Revival in Britain and America. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2014
Hall, Michael. ‘The Rise of Refinement: G. F. Bodley's All Saints, Cambridge, and the Return to English Models in Gothic Architecture of the 1860s’. Architectural History vol. 36, 1893 pp. 103-126
Hall, Michael. ‘‘Furniture of Artistic character’: Watts and Company as house furnishers, 1874-1907’. Furniture History vol. 32, 1896 pp.179-204
'Obituary'. American Architect & Building News vol. 92, 1907 p. 137
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 93, 26 October 1907 pp. 433-434, 447-448
'Obituary'. Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects vol. 15, 1908, pp. 13-14, 79
Simpson, F. M. 'George Frederick Bodley'. Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects vol. 15, 1908 pp. 145-158
Smart, C. M. Muscular churches: ecclesiastical architecture of the High Victorian period. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 1989
Stamp, Gavin. The English House 1860-1914. Catalogue of an exhibition of photographs and drawings. London: InternationalArchitect and the Building Centre Trust, 1980 pp. 12-14
Verey, David. 'George F. Bodley' in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects Volume 1. Edited by Adolf K. Plakzek. New York and London: Macmillan and Free Press, 1982 pp.228-229
Verey, David. ‘George Frederick Bodley, climax of the Gothic revival’ in Seven Victorian architects, edited by Jane Fawcett. London: Thames & Hudson, 1976 pp. 84-101, 145-146, 153-156
Verey, David. 'Two early churches of Bodley'. Country Life vol. 149, 20 May 1971 pp. 1246-1249
Warren, E. P., ‘The Life and Work of George Frederick Bodley’. RIBA Journal, 3rd series, vol. 17, 1910 pp. 305-340.