Edward Schröder Prior was born in Greenwich, London, England on 4 June 1852, and studied at Caius College, University of Cambridge from 1870 to 1874. He was then articled to Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) in London from 1875 to 1879, and remained with him as clerk of works for St. Margaret's Church, and a house for J.W. Atkinson in Ilkley, Yorkshire, in 1878-79.
In 1880 he commenced independent practice as an architect iwith an office at 17 Southampton Street, London. He was subsequently appointed Architect to Caius College, Cambridge, Westbay Building Company, and Harrow School Music Society.
Prior was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1889. He was a founder member of the Art Workers Guild in 1884 and Master of the Guild in 1905. He was also Secretary of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society from 1902 to 1917. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London from 1882 to 1901 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1914,
From 1912 to 1932 Prior was Slade Professor of Architectural History at the University of Cambridge.
He wrote extensively on architectural and art history. Books by him included A History of Gothic Art in England (1900); The Cathedral Builders in England (1905); and An Account of English Medieval Figure-Sculpture (1912). He died in Chichester Sussex on 19 August 1932
A biographical file on Edward S. Prior is available on request from the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London
Highgrove House in Eastcote, London (1880-81); Carr Manor for Thomas Clifford Allbutt in Meanwood, Leeds (1880-81); St. Mary and St. Perter Church, Kelsale, Suffolk (1881-82, 1889-92); St Mary's Mission Hall in Harrow (1883-84); Quay Terrace in West Bay, Dorset (1884-85); Holy Trinity Church in, Bothenhampton, near Bridport, Dorset (1884-89); Elmside, Grange Road, Cambridge (1885); Henry Martyn Hall, Market Street, Cambridge (1885-87); Church of St Michael the Archangel in Framlingham, Suffolk (1885-89); houses in Woolaston Road, Cambridge (1886-87); various buildings , including the superintendent's house at Harrow School in Harrow, Middlesex (1887-89); Herschel Lodge in Herschel Road, Cambridge (1888); Music Room for Harrow School in Harrow, Middlesex (1890-91); Village Club for Kelsale, Suffolk (1891); Pembroke College Mission Church and Hall, Barlow Street, Southwark, London (1891-92, 1895-96 and 1908); St Mary's Church, Burton Bradstock, Dorset (1895-97); The Barn, Foxhole Road, Exmouth, Devon (1895-97); South aisle, St. Mary's Church, Burton Bradstock, Dorset (1897); Vicarage for All Saints Church in Westbrook, Kent (1897-1900); Cambridge Medical School, Cambridge University (1899); Prior Hall, Walworth, London !1899-1901); Humphry Museum and Medical School, Downing Street, Cambridge (1900-04); Music School, Winchester College, Romans Road, Winchester, Hampshire (1901-04); Home Place [now Voewood, also known as Kelling Place and Thornfield Hall] in High Kelling, near Holt, Norfolk (1903-05); The Moorings, near St. John's Church, West Bay, near Bridport, Dorset (c.1905); St Andrew's Church in Roker, Sunderland, with Randall Wells (1905-07); St Mary & All Saints Church in Whalley, Lancashire (1907-09); Dysart House in Cambridge (1909); The Oaks in Goudhurst, Kent (1910); Windacres in Guildford, Surrey (1911); Greystones and Greystone Lodge, Waterford Road, Highcliffe-on-Sea, Dorset, with, G.A.B. Livesay and Arthur Grove (1911-14; The Small House in Mid Lavant, Chichester, Sussex (1912); Church of St. Osmond, Bournemouth, Dorset (1913-16); War Memorial, Maiden Newton, Dorset (1920-21).
Source of Images
RIBApix - over 340 images of work by Edward S. Prior
Country Life Picture Library - nearly 100 images of work by Edward S. Prior
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North East of England: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong, 2013 [name given as Edmund Schroder Prior]
Button, Roger. Arts and Crafts Churches of Great Britain: Architects, Craftsmen and Patrons. Settle, North Yorkshire: 2QT Ltd. (Publishing) Ltd., 2020
Cook, Martin Godfrey. Edward Prior: Arts and Crafts Architect. Ramsbury: The Crowood Press, 2015
Cruickshank, Dan ‘Masters of building. Material values: E S Prior's Home Place [Voewood] in Norfolk’. Architects’ Journal vol. 210, no. 19, 18 November 1999 pp. 34-49.
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
Dodds, Glen Lyndon. ‘St Andrew's Church, Roker’ [Architect: (1906-1907) Edward Schroeder Prior] Durham Archaeological Journal vol. 10, 1994, pp. 105-111.
Garnham, Trevor. St. Andrew's Church, Roker: Edward Prior. London : Phaidon, 1996.
Garnham, Trevor. ‘St Andrews Church, Roker, Sunderland’ A[Architect: Edward Prior] Church Building no. 68, March-April 2001 Mar.pp. 4-8.
Granham, Trevor; Macaulay, James; and Bosley, Edward. Arts & Crafts Masterpieces: Edward Prior, St Andrew's Church, Roker: Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art: Bernard Maybeck, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Berkeley. London: Phaidon, 1999
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
Grillet, Christopher. ‘Edward Schroeder Prior, 1852-1932’. Architectural Review November 1952 pp. 302-306
Grillet, Christopher. ‘Edward Prior’ in Edwardian Architecture and its Origins. Edited by Alastair Service. London: The Architectural Press Ltd., 1975 pp. 142-151
Hamilton, Alec. Arts & Crafts Churches. London: Lund Humphries 2020
Hawkes, Dean. ‘Masters of building: 1. The Cathedral of the Arts and Crafts Movement: St Andrew's, Roker’ [Architect (1905) Edward Prior]. Architects’ Journal vol. 181, no. 5, 30 January 1985 pp. 20-38.
Jenkins, Simon. ‘England's thousand best churches. St Andrew, Roker, Tyne and Wear’ [Architect: Edward s. Prior] Country Life vol. 193, no. 18, 6 May 1999 p. 126.
Johnson, Michael Andrew. ‘'An uncalculating grasp of beauty': St Andrew's Church, Roker, County Durham’ [Architect: Edward S. Prior] Durham Archaeological Journal vol. 18, 2009, pp. 107-114.
Jones. Tom Devonshire. ‘Interpreting and using an Arts and Crafts building’ [A description of St. Andrew's Church, Roker by architects Edward Prior, with Randall Wells]. Church Building no. 106, July-August 2007 pp. 34-37.
Longville, Tim. ‘A Norfolk gem is reborn’ [On the Restoration of Voewood in Norfolk, designed by Edward S. Prior in 1905] Country Life vol. 202, no. 33, 13 August 2008 pp. 50-54.
Lynne Brown Walker. E.S. Prior 1852-1932. Ph.D. thesis, History of Art, Birkbeck College, London University, 1978
Miers, Mary. ‘Butterfly dream: Voewood, Norfolk. The home of Simon Finch’. Country Life vol. 203, no. 8, 25 February 2009 pp. 38-43
Prior, Edward S. An address delivered by Edward S Prior on the occasion of the distribution of prizes to the students, February 15th 1905. Birmingham : Allday, 1905.
The Practice of Architecture: Eight Architects 1830-1930, Edited by Christopher Webster Spire Books, 2012
Valinsky, David. An Architect Speaks: The Words and Buildings of Edward Schröder Prior. Spalding: Shaun Tyas Press, 2014
Valinsky, David. ‘Prior in Poole’. [Discusses the collaboration between Poole Pottery and Edward S. Prior at St Osmund's Church in Poole (1913-16)] Brick Bulletin Summer 2015 pp.23
Valinsky, David. ‘Prior warning’. [Discusses Edward S. Prior’s concerns about the alteration of churches] Victorian no. 67, July 2021 p.7
Walker, Angela. ‘Sunderland: historic building. The church of St Andrew, Roker’ [Architect: Edward Prior] Northern Architect no. 17, 1979, pp. 19-24.
Walker, Lynne Brown. E. S. Prior 1852-1932. PhD thesis, Birkbeck College, University of London, 1978
'Home Place, Holt. The residence of the Rev. F. M. Meyrick-Jones’[Home Place (now Voewood), Holt, Norfolk. Architect: Edward S. Prior] Country Life vol. 26, 6 November 1909 [pp 634-642
‘Obituary’. Royal Institute of British Architects Journal vol. 39,15 October 1932 pp. 858-859
‘Obituary’. Architectural Forum vol. 57, October 1932 p. 18
‘Obituary’. Architects’ Journal vol. 76, 31 August 1932 p. 264
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 143, 1932 p. 328
‘Obituary’. Royal Institute of British Architects Journal vol. 39, 10 September 1932 pp. 814
‘Obituary’. Architect & Building News vol. 76, 31 August 1932 p. 264