Alfred Bowman Yeates was born in Paddington, Middlesex [now London], England in January 1867. Between 1885 and 1888 he was articled to Arthur Cates (1829-1901) and subsequently remained with him as an improver. He attended classes at the Royal Academy Schools in London and from 1889 was that year was an improver with Ernest George (1839-1922) in London and passed his qualifying exam. In 1890 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) and in 1892 he joined George in partnership as Ernest George & Yeates.
The partnership with George was dissolved in 1919. Yeates was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1905.
In addition to his work as an architect, Yeates was also a painter and exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in London.
Yeates' address was given as 7 Whitehall Yard, London, and 15 Cleveland Gardens, Hyde Park, London in 1889; 61A South Audley Street, London in 1905; 18 Maddox Street, London in 1905 and 1935; and Seaford House, Seaford, Sussex in 1939. He retired from practice in 1935 and died in Uckfield, East Sussex on 6 May 1944.
Architectural commissions by Ernest George & Yeates included West Dean Park near Chichester, Sussex, 1891- 93 and 1905; Colworth, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, 1894-95; Shockerwick House, Bathford, Somerset, 1896 and 1906-07; Cawston Manor, Cawston, Norfolk, 1896; Billiard, Smoking and Dining Rooms, Claridges Hotel, London, 1897; Okewood, Horsham, Sussex, 1898; Edgeworth Manor, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 1898-1900; Foxcombe, Boars Hill, Oxfordshire, c.1898-c.1904; houses for Port Sunlight, Cheshire, 1899-1901; Holwell, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, 1900; Woodside, Esher, Surrey, 1912; alterations to Welbeck Abbey, near Worksop, Nottinghamshire, 1900-02; Wayford Manor, Crewkerne, Somerset, C. 1902; Crathorne Hall, Yarm-on-Tees, Yorkshire, 1903-06; the British Pavilion, St. Louis Exhibition 1904; cottages in Eaton Hastings, Berkshire, 1904; Olveston, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1904-06; Eynsham Hall, Witney, Oxfordshire, 1904-08; hunting stables, Foston Hall, Derby, Derbyshire, 1905; Greycroft, Newbury, Berkshire, 1905; Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey, 1906; The Royal Exchange Buildings, 1-4 Cornhill, London, 1906-10; a Public School for Girls, Athens, Greece, 1908; Putteridge Bury, Lilley, Hertfordshire, 1908-11; Encombe, Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent, 1909; Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London, 1910-11; Golders Green Crematorium, London, 1910-11; premises for Messrs Grafton, 17 Grafton Street, London, 1910-11; cottages in Whiteley Village, Surrey, 1911; a Lumber House, British Guiana [now Guyana], 1912; Shirpur Palace, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, 1914-15; St Chads Wood, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, 1918; a bungalow for Nairobi, British East Africa [now Kenya], 1919; and War Memorial, Berriedale, Caithness, Scotland, 1919.
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
Grainger, Hilary Joyce. The Architecture of Sir Ernest George and His Partners c.1860-1922, 4 volumes. Ph.D., University of Leeds, 1985