Shires, Benjamin Priestley 1857 - 1943

Benjamin Priestley Shires was born in Hunslet, Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 14 July 1857 and was articled to Daniel Dodgson in Leeds from 1874 to 1878. He also attended South Kensington Museum and classes at the Architectural Association Schools in London.  He was employed as managing clerk to Walter Green Penty (1852-1902) from 1879 to 1886 and worked as an assistant to James Henry Keats in Plymouth, Devon. During the 1870s and 1880s he won several architectural prizes including the South Kensington Silver Medal in 1886 and the Tite Prize in 1886.

Shires qualified as an architect in 1893 and commenced independent practice in Plymouth in 1895.  He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) 1893 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1905.  With four others he assisted in founding the Leeds Architectural Society [later Leeds and Yortkshire Architectural Society] in 1876. He also assisted in the founding the Three Towns Branch of the Devon and Exeter Architectural Society and the York Architectural Society. He was President of the Devon and Exeter Architectural Society in 1905 and 1933 and Chairman of the Three Towns Branch of the Devon and Exeter Architectural Society in 1904-05.

Shires' address was given as  43 John Street, York in 1881; 1 Springfield Terrace, St. Jude's, Plymouth, Devon in 1893; 38 Beaumont Road, Plymouth, Devon in 1901; Old Town Chambers, 104 Old Town Street, Plymouth, Devon in 1905; 21 Lockyer Street, The Hoe, Plymouth, Devon in 1914; and 41, Union Street. Plymouth. 1923 and 1930; and Burley, Whitchurch Road, Tavistock, Devon where he died on 13 December 1943