George Hastwell Grayson was born in Rock Ferry, Lancashire, England on 21 March 1871. After studying at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he was articled to William Edward Willinck (1856-1924) and Philip Coldwell Thicknesse (1860-1920) of Willink & Thicknesse in Liverpool in 1892. From 1894 to 1896 he worked as an assistant to his grandfather George Enoch Grayson (1833?-1912) and Augustus Lyle Ould (1852-1909) of Grayson & Ould in Liverpool.
In 1896 G. H. Grayson qualified as an architect and the following year became a partner in Grayson & Ould. The partnership was dissolved in 1908. He then work alone until 1914 when he formed the partnership Grayson & Barnish with Leonard Barnish (1884-1975)
Grayson was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (A.R.I.B.A.) in 1897, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (F.R.I.B.A.) in 1911. He was also a member of the Liverpool Architectural Society and its President in 1912-14.
His address was given as 31 James Street, Liverpool in 1897 and 1910; 2 Woodhey Road, Higher Bobington, Cheshire in 1914; 606 Royal Liver Building, Liverpool in 1914 and 1926; 58 Rodney Street, Liverpool in 1930. He retired from practice in 1933 and moved to Oxfordfordshire. His address was given as Monkery Farm, Great Milton, Oxfordshire in 1939. He died on 23 November 1951.
Work by G. H. Grayson in partnership with Grayson & Ould included St Faith's Church in Liverpool (1898-1900); Westcott House, Cambridge (1899); Bridge Inn in Port Sunlight (1899); Council Offices in Chirk, Wrexham, Wales (1902); Church Drive Primary School in Port Sunlight (1902-03); the Consumption Hospital at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool (1902-03); Thornton Manor in Thornton Hough (1904); the Liberal Club in Thornton Hough (1904); Inverforth House in Camden, London (c.1904); Barclays Bank in Liverpool (c.1905); the Bank of Liverpool in Wrexham, Wales (c.1905-12); and with Ould, the dining hall at Selwyn College, Cambridge (1907). Later work by him included schools in Whitehaven, Carlisle and Bootle (1908-10); Meadway, Gidea Park, Essex (1911); and War Memorial Obelisk in Sefton (1923) with Leonard Barnish; Southport War Memorial in Southport (1923) with Leonard Barnish). By 1926 Grayson had designed 12 branches of Lloyds Bank.
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Liverpool Consumption Hospital; Port Sunlight Hospital; Montgomeryshire Infirmary; extensions: — Selwyn Coll., Trinity Hall, and Clergy Training Coll., Cambridge, and to St. Aldan's Coll., Birkenhead; Church, George's Plain, Jamaica; schools for Liverpool, Bootle Education Committee, and for Cheshire and Cumberland Education Committee; engineering workshops, Liverpool; many private schools; Lloyds Bank (12 branches); Bank of Liverpool (four branches); District Bank (one branch); extension to shipyards, paint works, flour mills, and many churches. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1923]
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
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
'Obituary'. The Builder 30 November 1951 p.762
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914
Who's Who in Architecture 1923. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architerctural Press, 1923
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architerctural Press, 1926