George Gilbert Scott [also known as Sir Gilbert Scott, and as Sir George Gilbert Scott] was born in Gawcott, Buckinghamshire, England on 13 July 1811 and was articled to James Edmeston (1791-1867) in London from 1827 to 1831. He then worked briefly in the office of Peter & Grissel, a building firm, and for Henry Roberts (1803-1876). He as also an assistant to Sampson Kempthorne (1809-1873) an architect who specialised in the design of workhouses. In 1832 he joined the office of the architect Henry Roberts (1803-1876), who was then working on the Fishmongers' Hall near London Bridge. He left Roberts in c.1835 to set up his own practice and from 1838 was in partnership with William Bonython Moffatt (1812–1887) as Scott and Moffatt. The partnership was dissolved in 1846. Towards the end of his career, he was also in partnership with his second son, John Oldrid Scott (1841-1913) in London.
Scott was a prolific architect and was one of the leading exponent of the Gothic Revival. He was known primarily as ecclesiastical architect. Scott was the author of numerous books, pamphlets, articles and reports on architecture. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1849); an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1855; a Royal Academician (RA) in 1860; and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) in 1860. He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1859 and knighted for his services to architecture in 1872. He died at 39 Courtfield Gardens, South Kensington, London on 27 March 1878.
Among the many churches, cathedrals and other religious buildings he designed, restored, extended or altered were Vicarage, Wappenham, Northamptonshire (1833); Vicarage, Dinton, Buckinghamshire (1836); Rectory, Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire (1838) Parsonage, Blakesley, Northamptonshire (1839); Parsonage, Hartshill, Stoke on Trent (1840); Parsonage, Hartshill, Stoke on Trent (1840); St Mark's Church, Summerhill, Birmingham (1840-41); Christ Church, Bridlington, Yorkshire (1840–41); St Mary's Church, Hanwell, Middlesex (1841); Holy Trinity, Hulme (1841); St Peter's Church, Norbiton, Surrey (1841); St Giles' Church, Camberwell, London (1841-44); St Mary's Church, Stafford (restored 1842-45); Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin, Wakefield, West Yorkshire (restored 1842); Holy Trinity Church, Hartshill, Stoke on Trent (1842); St John the Baptist's Church, St John's, Woking, Surrey (1842); St John the Baptist Church, Beeston, Nottinghamshire (1842); St Michael and All Angels Church, Wood Green (1843); St Michael and All Angels Church, Wood Green (1843); Church of St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield, Derbyshire (restoration 1843); St John the Baptist's Church, Leenside, Nottingham (1843–44); Holy Trinity Church, Halstead, Essex (1843–44); St John the Evangelist, West Meon, Hampshire (1843–46); Parsonage, Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire (1843–46); St Mark's Church, Worsley, Greater Manchester (1844–46); Beverley Minster, Beverley, Yorkshire (additions and alterations, 1844, 1866–68, 1877-80); St Matthias, Malvern Link, Worcestershire (1844–46); St Mary's Church, Nottingham (restoration 1844-72); St Mark's Church, Swindon (1845); Parsonage, Barnet, Hertford (1845); St Matthew’s Church, Donnington Wood, Telford, Shropshire (1845); St Nikolai, Hamburg (1845–80); Parsonage, Wembley, Middlesex (1846); St John the Evangelist, Wembley, Middlesex (1846); The Cathedral of St John the Baptist in St John's, Newfoundland (1847); St Andrew's Parish Church, Spratton, Northamptonshire (1847); St Mary's Church, Sandbach, Cheshire (1847); Ely Cathedral (restoration and alterations 1847–49) ; St Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire (1848); St Gregory's Church, Canterbury (1848); St Paul's Church, Canterbury, Kent (1848); Westminster Abbey (restoration 1848–78); St Cwyfan, Tudweiliog, Gwynedd, Wales (restoration 1849); St Mary's Church, Temple Balsall, Solihull, West Midlands (restoration 1849); St Peter's Church, Northampton (restoration 1849-51); St Peter's Church, South Croydon (1851); St John's Church, Eastnor, Herefordshire Church (1852); St Mary's Church, Halton, Runcorn, Cheshire (restoration 1852); All Saints' Church, Watford, Hertfordshire (1853); St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, Dundee (1853); Church of St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire (restoration 1853-55); St Mary's Church, West Derby, Liverpool (1853–6) All Saints' Church, Sherbourne, Warwick (1854); Christ Church, Lee Park, Kent (1854) ; St John the Evangelist, Shirley, Surrey (1854); Holy Trinity Church, Coventry (1854); St Paul's Church, Chippenham (1854–55); Chapel of Exeter College, Oxford (1854–60); Gloucester Cathedral (restoration 1854–76); Holy Trinity Church, Trefnant (1855); St John's Church, Bilton, Harrogate (1855); Coventry Cathedral (restoration 1855–57); Peterborough Cathedral (restoration 1855–60); Lichfield Cathedral (restoration 1855–61, 1877–81); Hereford Cathedral (alteration 1855–63); St Peter, Bushley, Worcestershire (alterations, 1856); Church of St John the Baptist, Glastonbury, Somerset (restoration 1856-57); St Mary, Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire Chancel (1856–57); Church of St Mary the Less, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire (restoration 1856–57); ; St Mary, Hayes (alterations, 1856-62); All Saints' Church, Oakham, Rutland (restoration, 1857-58); Church of St John the Baptist, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire (restoration 1858); St George's Minster, Doncaster (1858); St George's Minster, Doncaster (1858); St Mary New Church, Stoke Newington (1858); St Matthias Church, Richmond, London (1858); Wakefield Cathedral (restoration 1858–60, 1865–69, 1872–74); All Souls Church, Halifax (1859); St Thomas's Church, Huddersfield (1859); St Matthew's Church, Yiewsley, Hillingdon (1859); St Michael and All Angels Church, Leafield, Oxfordshire (1859–60); St Matthew's Church, Stretton, Cheshire (1859, 1867); Church of St Editha, Tamworth, Staffordshire, with Benjamin Ferrey (restoration, 1850s); St Mary, Edvin Loach, Herefordshire (1860); Great Malvern Priory (1860); Brecon Cathedral (restoration 1860–62 and 1872–75); Bath Abbey, 1860–77; Canterbury Cathedral (restoration 1860, 1877–80); Christ Church, Wanstead, Essex (1861); St Stephen's Church, Higham Green, Suffolk (1861); St John the Evangelist, Sandbach Heath (1861); All Saints' Church, Hawkhurst, Kent (1861); St Mary Magdelene, Duns Tew, Oxfordshire (restoration 1861–62); Chapel of Wellington College, Berkshire (1861–63); St Mary's Church, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire (restoration 1861–63); Chichester Cathedral (restoration 1861–67, 1872); St John the Baptist Church, Upton Bishop, Herefordshire (restoration 1862); Parsonage, Leith, Midlothian (1862); Vicarage, Jarrom Street, Leicester (1862); All Saints' Church, Langton Green, Kent (1862–63); St Helen's Church, Welton, East Riding of Yorkshire (1862–63); St David's Cathedral, St David’s, Wales (restoration 1862-70); Ripon Cathedral (restoration 1862–72); St Peter and St Paul, Buckingham Church Buckingham (restoration, alteration and additions 1862–78); St Andrew's Hospital Chapel, Northampton (1863); St John the Baptist Church, Aconbury, Herefordshire (restoration 1863); Chapel of St James the Great, Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, 1863; St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, 1863; St John the Evangelist, Taunton (1863); St Edmundsbury Cathedral (restoration 1863–64, 1867–69); Worcester Cathedral (restoration 1863–64, 1868, 1874); St Leonard, Yarpole, Herefordshire, (restoration 1864); St Cuthbert's Church, Darlington (restoration 1864–65); St Clement's Church, Barnsbury (1864–65); Priory Church, Leominster (additions 1864–66, 1876–78); St Andrew's Church, Derby (1864–67); St Andrew's Church, Uxbridge (1865); St John the Baptist, Penshurst (1865); St Luke's Church, Pendleton (1865); St Stephen and St Mark, Lewisham; (1865; St Mary's Church, Shackleford, Surrey (1865); St Mary and St Nicolas, Spalding, Lincolnshire (restoration 1865-67); Salisbury Cathedral (restoration 1865–71); Church of St John the Baptist, Danbury, Essex (1866–67); Holy Trinity Church, Shanghai (1866–69); St Asaph Cathedral (restoration 1866–69, 1871); St Peter's Church, Edensor, Derbyshire (1867–70); All Saints' Church, Winterton, Lincolnshire (1867); St Denys Church, Southampton (1868); St Stephen's Church, Higham Green, Suffolk (1868); St James' Church, Cradley, Herefordshire (addition 1868); Newcastle Cathedral (restoration 1867–71, 1872–76); Chester Cathedral (restoration 1868–75); St Mary's Church, Bishopsbourne, Kent (1871); St Mary Abbots, Kensington, London (restoration 1872); Selby Abbey (restoration 1872–74); All Saints' Church, Hillesden Buckinghamshire (restoration 1874–75); Tewkesbury Abbey (restoration 1874–79); Winchester Cathedral (restoration 1875);St Margaret's Church, King's Lynn (restoration 1875); St Margaret's, Westminster, London (restoration 1877–78); St Mary's Island church on the Orchardleigh Estate, Somerset (restoration 1878); and St Peter's Church, Prestbury, Cheshire (restoration 1879–81).
Scott's secular commissions included a large number of workhouses and lunatic asylums; several schools, including Christ Church School, Alsager, Cheshire (1848); and Brighton College, Sussex (1848–66); Reading Gaol in Reading, Berkshire, with William Boynthon Moffatt (1842-44); Leeds General Infirmary (1864-67); Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras Station, London (1865-73); Brill Swimming Baths, Brighton, Sussex (1866–69); an extension to Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford (1869–71); building at Bombay University [now Mumbai University] (1869-78); and the Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens, London (completed 1872).
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See also:
List of new churches by George Gilbert Scott in the East of England
List of new churches by George Gilbert Scott in the English Midlands
List of new churches by George Gilbert Scott in London
List of new churches by George Gilbert Scott in Northern England
List of new churches by George Gilbert Scott in South East England
List of new churches by George Gilbert Scott in South West England
British Listed Building - 674 entries listed as by George Gilbert Scott
British Listed Buildings - 63 entries listed as by Sir Gilbert Scott
Historic England - 512 entries listed as by George Gilbert Scott
Historic England - 125 entries listed as by Sir Gilbert Scott
Anson, Peter F. Fashions in Church Furnishings 1840-1940. London: Studio Vista, 2nd edition, 1965 pp. 143-160
Arnold, Dana. ‘George Gilbert Scott and Bombay: India's gothic architecture’. Apollo vol. 133, no. 348, February 1991 pp. 87-90
Begley, W. W. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott and the Nikolai Kirche of Hamburg’. The Builder vol. 132, 17 July 1927 pp.964-965
Branford, Suzanne. ‘The restoration of Salisbury Cathedral by George Gilbert Scott, 1862-78’. Ecclesiology Today no. 37, December 2006 pp. 67-80.
Briggs, Martin Shaw. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott, RA’. Architectural Review vol. 24, August 1908 pp. 92-100
Briggs, Martin Shaw. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott, RA’. Architectural Review vol. 24, September 1908 pp. 147-152
Briggs, Martin Shaw. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott, RA’. Architectural Review vol. 24, October 1908 pp. 180-185
Briggs, Martin Shaw. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott, RA’. Architectural Review vol. 24, December 1908 pp. 290-295
Brindle, Steven. ‘Sir George Gilbert Scott as surveyor of Westminster Abbey, 1849-78.' British Archaeological Association. Conference transactions no. 39, part 1, 2015, p. 325-352
Brownlee, David B. ‘That 'Regular Mongrel Affair': G. G. Scott's Design for the Government Offices ‘. Architectural History vol. 28 1985 pp. 159-182, 184-197
Burden, Alfred W. N. ‘Sir George Gilbert Scott’. Architectural Association Notes vol. 17, February 1902 pp. 17-19
Butler, Richard J. Secular & domestic : George Gilbert Scott and the Master's Lodge of St John's College, Cambridge. Cambridge : Esson Print, 2013.
Catalogue of the drawings collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects: Vol. 14. The Scott family. Compiled by Geoffrey Fisher, et al. Amersham: Gregg, 1981
Clarke, Basil F. L. Church Builders of the Nineteenth Century: A Study of the Gothic Revival in England. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1938 pp. 160-172
Coffman, Peter. ‘St John's Anglican Cathedral and the beginnings of ecclesiological Gothic in Newfoundland; Architects: Sir George Gilbert Scott’. Architecture in Canada vol. 31, no. 1, 2006, pp. 3-22.
Cole, David. ‘Sir George Scott’ in Victorian Architecture, edited by Peter Ferriday. London: Jonathan Cape, 1963 pp. 175-184
Cole, David. ‘Some early work of George Gilbert Scott’. Architectural Association Journal vol. 66, December 1950 pp. 98-108
Cruickshank, Dan. ‘Masters of building. The Midland Grand Hotel, St Pancras’. Architects’ Journal vol. 206, no. 19, 20 November 1997 pp. 59-76.
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
Ferriday, Percy. ‘The greatest Folly of them all: the architecture of St. Pancras Station and Hotel’. Country Life vol. 138, 18 November 1965 pp. 1314-1317
Girouard, Mark. ‘Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire’. Country Life vol. 141, 18 May 1967 pp. 1230-1233 [Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire was designed by Scott and completed in 1863. First part of a two-part article]
Girouard, Mark. ‘Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire’. Country Life vol. 141, 25 May 1967 pp. 1302-1305 [Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire was designed by Scott and completed in 1863. Second part of a two-part article]
Girouard, Mark. The Victorian Country House. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, revised and enlarged edition, 1979.
‘Great British architects: Sir Gilbert Scott, 1811-78’. Country Life vo. 204, no. 26, 30 June 2010 pp. 92-93
Handley-Read, Charles. ‘The Albert Memorial re-assessed’. Country Life vol. 130, 14 December 1961 pp. 1514-1516 [The Albert Memorial in London was designed by and built 1865-73]
Handley-Read, Charles. ‘Legacy of a vanished empire: the design of the India’. Handley-Read, Charles. ‘Legacy of a vanished empire: the design of the India’. Country Life vol. 148, 9 July 1970 pp. 110-112 [Discusses Scott’s rejected design for the India Office in Whitehall, London]
Howell, Peter. ‘Scott's masterpiece restored; Architect (1856-9): Sir George Gilbert Scott’. Country Life vol. 182, no. 17, 28 April 1988 pp. 144-146 [All Souls, Haley Hill, Halifax, designed by Scott]
Jordan, William J. ‘Sir George Gilbert Scott R.A., Surveyor to Westminster Abbey 1849-1878’. Architectural History vol. 23, 1980 pp. 60-85, 188-190
Lockett, Richard. ‘Sydney Smirke, George Gilbert Scott and 'the rearrangement of Lichfield Cathedral for divine worship': 1854-1861’. University of Birmingham. Institute for the Study of Worship and Religious Architecture. Research Bulletin
Mane, Jonathan Mane. ‘Gilbert Scott's colonial churches’. Australasian Victorian Studies Association. Conference papers 1987 pp. 31-42
Morrison, Kathryn. A. ‘The new-poor-law workhouses of George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt’, Architectural History, vol. 40, 1997, pp. 184–203
Musson, Jeremy. ‘The Manor House at Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire’. Country Life vol. 194, no. 43, 26 October 2000 pp. 58-67.{Designed as a parsonage by Scott in 1843-46]
Musson, Jeremy. ‘A masterly touch: the Master's Lodge, St John's College, Cambridge’. Country Life vol. 211, no. 43, 25 October 2017 pp. 52-56 [Master's Lodge, St John's College, Cambridge, designed by Scott and built in 1863-65]
‘Obituary’. American Architect & Building News vol. 3, 1879 pp. 117, 150-151
‘Obituary’. Architect vol. 19, 1878, 29 March 1878 pp. 193, 201-202, 209-211, 213
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 36, 6 April 1878 pp. 339-343, 360
‘Obituary’. Building News vol. 34, , 29 March 1878 pp.309-310
‘Obituary’. Building News vol. 34, 5 April 1878 p. 339
‘Obituary’. Building News vol. 34, 19 April 1878 p. 385-386
‘Obituary’. Royal Institute of British Architects Transitions 1878-79 pp. 3-5, 193-208
Porter, Bernard. The battle of the styles: society, culture and the design of the new Foreign Office, 1855-1861. London : Continuum, 2011 [Discusses Scott’s designs for the Foreign Office in Whitehall, London]
Powell, Kim. ‘A Victorian masterpiece: All Souls, Halifax; Architects: Sir George Gilbert Scott’. Yorkshire Architect no. 57, November-December 1977, pp. 20-22.
Roberts, H. V. Molesworth. ‘Sir George Gilbert Scott’. RIBA Journal vol. 65, April 1958 p. 207
Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878 Mar. 27) ... : a list of his works (buildings & writings) and a bibliography, based on published materials. London: RIBA Library, 1957
Sir Gilbert Scott (1811-1878): an Architect of the Gothic Revival. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1978 [Exhibition catalogue]
Sir Gilbert Scott and the Scott dynasty. Edited by Roger Dixon. London : Polytechnic of the South Bank, Department of Architecture, 1980.
‘Sir George Gilbert Scott: bicentenary issue’. Victorian no. 37, July 20121 pp. 5-15 [Includes: ‘Sir George Gilbert Scott 1811-2011’, by Gavin Stamp, p. 5; ‘A conservative cathedral restorer’, by Claudia Marx, pp. 6-9; ‘George Gilbert Scott and the University of Bombay’, by Richard Butler, pp. 10-13; ‘The Midland Grand lives again, pp. 14-15. Photographs of the newly restored Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras Station designed by Scott]
Sir George Gilbert Scott. Edited by P. S. Barnwell, Geoffrey Tyack and William Whyte. Sir George Gilbert Scott. Edited by P. S. Barnwell, Geoffrey Tyack and William Whyte.
Skinner, Robin. ‘Drawing from an Indigenous Tradition? George Gilbert Scott's First Design for Christchurch Cathedral, 1861-62’. Architectural History vol. 53, 2010 pp. 245-270
Stamp, Gavin. The English House 1860-1914. Catalogue of an exhibition of photographs and drawings. London: International Architect and the Building Centre Trust, 1980 p. 7
Stamp, Gavin. ‘Great Scott. A Gothic reputation is revived’. Building Design no. 1973 8 July 2011 pp. 28-29
Stamp, Gavin. ‘In Search of the Byzantine: George Gilbert Scott's Diary of an Architectural Tour in France in 1862’. Architectural History vol. 46, 2003 pp. 189-222
Stamp, Gavin. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott, architect of the Gothic Revival’, Architectural Design vol. 48, nos. 8/9, 1978, pp. 538-541.
Stamp, Gavin. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott’s Recollections’. Architectural History vol. 19, 1976 pp. 54-73 [Scott’s autobiography Personal and Professional Recollections (1879) is discussed]
Stamp, Gavin. ‘Sir Gilbert Scott and the 'restoration' of mediaeval buildings’. AA Files vol. 1, no. 1, 1981/1982 Winter, pp. 89-97
Trumble, Angus’. ‘Gilbert Scott's 'bold and beautiful experiment', part I: The tomb of Sir Charles Hotham in Melbourne’. Burlington Magazine vol.141, no. 1161, December 1999 pp. 739-748 [Discusses the tomb designed by Scott in collaboration with the sculptor John Birnie Philip]
Trumble, Angus. ‘Gilbert Scott's 'bold and beautiful experiment', part II: The tomb of Charlotte, Lady Canning’. Burlington Magazine vol. 142, no. 1162, January 2000 pp. 20-28 [Tomb designed by Scott for the north portico of St John's Church, Calcutta]
Tyack, Geoffrey. ‘Gilbert Scott and the Chapel of Exeter College, Oxford’. Architectural History vol. 50, 2007 pp. 125-148
Whelan, Aidan. ‘George Gilbert Scott: A Pioneer of Constructional Polychromy?’ Architectural History vol. 57, 2014 pp. 217-238