Philip Coldwell Thicknesse was born at Deane Vicarage in Bolton, Lancashire, England on 28 January 1860. From c.1875 to c.1880 he was articled to Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) and remained with him as his assistant until 1884 when he commenced independent practice as an architect in Liverpool. From 1884 to 1920 he was in partnership with William Edward Willink in the Liverpool-based architectural firm Willink & Thicknesse. Thicknesse was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1904 and was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society in 1904-05.
Thicknesse's address was given as 14 Castle Street, Liverpool in 1904 and 1919; 2 East alber Road, Liverpool in 1911; The Cottage, Eastham, Birkenhead in 1914;
He died in Eastham, Cheshire on 23 February 1920.
School of Art, Liverpool; Elementary Schools, Liverpool; Goole Secondary School; Grammar Schools, Wallasey and Macclesfield; University Laboratories, Liverpool; works on Cunard Steamship Company's ships, "Franconia," (1910), "Laconia", &c.; Booth Steamship Company's ships, "Hildebrand" (c.1903), &c.; Liverpool Institute, alterations and additions; Lancaster County Asylum, Hospital; Booth Steamship Company's Offices; Cunard Steamship Company's Offices, Liverpool (1911); domestic work. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
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
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
‘Obituary’. Royal Institute of British Architects 6 March 1920 p. 211
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 118, 5 March p. 283
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914