Thomas Worthington was born in Salford, Lancashire, England on 1 April 1826. He was articled to Henry Bowman (1814-1883) in Manchester and was an assistant to Sir William Tite (1798-1873) in Carlisle. He commenced practice as an independent architect in Manchester in 1850 and from 1880 was in partnership with John Garrard Elgood (1833?-1893) in Manchester as Worthington & Elgood. In 1893, following the death of Elgood, he formed a new partnership, Thomas Worthington & Son, with his son, Percy Scott Worthington (1864-1939). Worthington senior retired from practice in 1907 and died in Aldersley Edge, Cheshire on 9 November 1909.
Broomfield, Macclesfield Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire (1847); 6 houses, Cheetham, Manchester (1849); houses for Walter Worthington, Bowdon, Altringham, Lancashire (1850); Overseers’ and Churchwarden's Offices, Fountain Street, Manchester (1852, 1857-58); "Timberhurst", Heap Bridge, Bury, Lancashire (1853-54); Exhibition House, Manchester Botanical Gardens, Old Trafford, Manchester (1854); Cemetery, Burnley, Lancashire (1855); Public Baths, Collier Street, Greengate, Salford (1855-56); Mayfield Baths, New Store Street, Ardwick, Lancashire (1856-57); Baths and Wash-houses, Stretford New Road, Hulme, Cheshire (1856); Cumberland and Westmorland Lunatic Asylum, Cumwhinton Road, Carleton, Carlisle (1854-58); Leaf Street Baths, Hulme, Hulme, Cheshire (1859-60); Penny Baths. Ardwick, Lancashire (1860); alterations, The Park, Prestwich (1860); rebuilding of Kendal Railway Station (1860); Albert Memorial, Albert Square, Manchester (1862-67); Fairfield, Crumpsall Lane, Higher Crumpsall, Manchester (1863-64); Unitarian Memorial Hall Albert Square and Southmill Street, Manchester (1864-65); Hospital, Chorlton Union Workhouse, Withington, Mancherster (1864-67); alterations, Sale Old Hall, Sale, Trafford, Manchester (1866); The How, Sedgley Park Road, Sedgley Park, Prestwich (1866-67); Prestwich Union Infirmary, Crumpsall, Manchester (1866-70); Prestwich Union Workhouse, Bongs Estate, Crumpsall, Manchester (1867); City Police and Sessions Courts, Minshull Street, Manchester (1867-71); Gladstone Hall, Woolton Wood, Liverpool (1867-73); 62 tenament buildings, Greengate, Salford (1869-71); Brookfield Unitarian Chapel, Gorton, Manchester (1869-71); Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan (1869-73); Nicholls Hospital, Hyde Road, Ardwick, Lancashire (1869-80); Reiss Shipping Warehouse, Quay Street, Manchester (1870); Female Lunatic Ward., Workhouse, Withington (1871); "Sutton Oaks," Sutton, near Macclesfield, Cheshire (1871-73) Unitarian Chapel, Dunham Road, Altrincham, Cheshire (1872); Unitarian Chapel. Monton Green, Monton, Eccles (1872-73); Broomfield Hall, Sunningdale, Berkshire (1872-75); The Towers, Didsbury, Manchester (1873); Unitarian Free Church, Cross Lane, Windsor, Pendleton, Salford (1873-74); Ayres End House, Weathampsted, near St Albans, Hertfordshire (1873-74); The Liverpool Convalescent Institution, Woolton, near Liverpool (1873-74); alterations to Vicarage, Swinton, Manchester (1874); tower and spire, Church of St Wilfrid, Standish, Wigan (1874-77); Peacock Mausoleum, Brookfield Unitarian Church, Gorton, Manchester (1875); Buxton Unitarian Chapel, Hartington Road, Buxton, Derbyshire (1875); Lodge, Harebarrow, Over Alderley, Cheshire (1875-76); Flowery Field Unitarian Church, 41 Newton Street, Hyde (1876-78); tower, Church of St John the Baptist, Godley, Hyde (1876-79); extension to Wigan Royal Infirmary (1884-85); and Monton Memorial Schools, Monton Green, Near Manchester (1888-89).
See also
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
Hamilton, Alec. Arts & Crafts Churches. London: Lund Humphries, 2020
Pass, Anthony J. Thomas Worthington. Victorian Architecture and Social Purpose. Manchester: Manchester Literary and Philosophical Publications Ltd 1988
Pass, Anthony.’Thomas Worthington: practical idealist’. Architectural Review vol. 155, no. 927, May 1974 pp. 268-274.
‘Obituary’. Building News 12 November 1909 p 716
‘Obituary’. British Architect 19 November 1909 p. 363
‘Obituary’. The Builder 20 November 1909 pp. 563-564
‘Obituary’. The Builder 13 November 1909 p. 533
‘Obituary’. Manchester Guardian 10 November 1909 p. 14