William Joseph Haywood [commonly known as William Haywood] was born in Ladywood, Birmingham, England on 2 November 1877. He was articled to Johnson & Clark in Birmingham from 1892 to 1895 and from 1895 to 1898 studied at Birmingham School of Art where he was awarded the Pugin Scholarship in 1897. He was also a Middlemore Scholar in 1897, and was a Queen's Prizeman in 1897 and received the John Henry Chamberlin Medal in 1899.
In 1899 he worked as an assistant to William Henry Bidlake (1862-1938) and in 1900 established his own independent architectural practice in Birmingham. From 1914 onwards he was in partnership with Herbert Tudor Buckland (1869-1951) and Edward Haywood-Farmer (1871-1917) in the architectural firm Buckland & Haywood-Farmer. Following the death of Haywood-Farmer in 1917 the partnership became Buckland & Haywood.
Haywood lectured on Civic Design and Town Planning at Birmingham University and was the author of The Development of Birmingham (1918). He was Honorary Secretary of the Civic Society from 1917 to 1925, and Honorary Secretary of the Birmingham Art Advisory Committee from 1922 to 1925. He was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1911, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1912. He was also a Member of the Town Planning Institute (MTPI).
Haywood exhibited at the Royal Academy in London between 1908 and 1915. He died in Birmingham on 2 November 1957.
Architectural projects by Haywood included offices for Henry Hope & Sons in Birmingham; and alterations and gardens at 'West Hill' in Edgbaston, near Birmingham. Projects since 1914 undertaken by Haywood and/or his practice included factories, office extension, power house, canteens, lodges and centrances for Kynoch Ltd., at Witton (1915); chemical factory for Kynoch's at Arklow, Ireland; Hannen Hill, near Bewdley (1922); a manufacturing block for Cadbury Bros. in Bourneville (1922); alterations, cottages and gardens at Eazbo, Hampton-in-Arden; and various war memorials.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 193, 15 November 1957 p. 861
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: Architectural Press, 1926