Colin St Clair Rycroft Oakes was born in Tanyfron, Wales on 23 May 1908 and studied at the the Northern Polytechnic School of Architecture [now London Metropolitan University] from where he graduated in 1929. He was then briefly articled to the London architectural firm TP Bennett, before moving to Finland where he worked in the office of the sculptor and architect Jarl Eklund. Following his return to London in 1931 he began attending classes in architecture at the Royal Academy Schools. Shortly after, he was awarded the Rome Scholarship in Architecture and subsequently spent two years at the British School in Rome. He returned to England in 1933 and began working as an architect for Middlesex County Council. He also took up a teaching post at the Architectural association in London. In 1935 he was an Arthur Cates Prizeman and that year joined the London architectural firm R. Furneaux Jordan and Maxwell Allen as their chief assistant. In 1936 he moved to India and for the next two years worked as Second Architect to the Government of Bengal.
Throughout World War Two he served in the Army in India. He returned to England in 1945. Following the war he joined the London architectural firm Sir Aston Webb & Son as a partner. In 1947 he designed an exhibition held to mark the 100th anniversary of the Architectural Association at their premises in Bedford Square, London.
On 1 March 1947 he was appointed Principal Architect to the Imperial War Graves Commission and subsequently designed a number of war memorials and cemeteries in South East Asia for British and Commonwealth soldiers who had died during the war, including the Sai Wan Bay War Memorial and Cemetery in Hong Kong, Kranji War Cemetery and Singapore Memorial in Singapore, the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in Thailand and Chungkai War Cemetery in Thailand.
In July 1949, Oakes was appointed Chief Architect to the Boots Pure Drug Company for whom he designed a number of stores including their store in Cambridge (1959-61). During the post-war years he also designed several factories, office buildings and laboratories.
Oakes was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1931 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1950. He died in London on 12 December 1971
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