I am grateful to Alan Crawford for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper, which is based on research undertaken in 1961-63.

1 Kaye, B., The Development of the Architectural Profession in Britain (1960), p. 65Google Scholar et seq.

2 Ibid. See also Mordaunt Crook, J., ‘The Pre-Victorian Architect: Professionalism and Patronage’, Architectural History, xii (1969), pp. 62–78 CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Kaye, B., op. cit., p. 143.Google Scholar

4 See also Mordaunt Crook, J., op. cit., p. 71.Google Scholar

5 Jenkins, F., ‘Nineteenth Century Architectural Periodicals’, in Summerson, J. (ed.), Concerning Architecture (1968), p. 153.Google Scholar

6 Kellett, J. R., The Impact of Railways on Victorian Cities (1969), p. 1.Google Scholar

7 Kaye, B., op. cit., p. 198.Google Scholar

8 Pevsner, N., Some Architectural Writers of the Nineteenth Century (1972), p. 79.Google Scholar See also Jenkins, F., Architect and Patron (1961), p. 166.Google Scholar

9 Grant, J., History of the Newspaper Press (1872), p. 122.Google Scholar

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11 RIBA, Proceedings, n.s. iv, 9 February 1888, p. 149.Google Scholar

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Pevsner, N., op. cit., p.85 Google Scholar. Also King, A. D., ‘Another Blow for Life: George Godwin and the Reform of Working Class Housing’, Architectural Review, cxxxvi (1964), pp.448–452 Google Scholar; idem, Introduction to Godwin, G., Town Swamps and Social Bridges (1859), reprint Leicester 1972Google Scholar; Tarn, J., Five Per Cent Philanthropy (1973), p. 4.Google Scholar

15 L. Reeve, Men of Eminence (1865), under G. Godwin. H.-R. Hitchcock describes Godwin as ‘perhaps the best informed and most effective of all antislum crusaders’ (Early Victorian Architecture in Britain (1954), p.458).Google Scholar

16 King, A. D., op. cit. (1964), p.450 Google Scholar; Tarn, J., ‘French Flats for the English in Nineteenth Century London’, in Sutcliffe, A., Multi-Storey Living: The British Working Class Experience (1974), p. 28.Google Scholar

17 See note 50 below.

18 Collins, P., Concrete: The Vision of a New Architecture (1959), p. 39.Google Scholar

19 King, A. D., ‘George Godwin and the Art Union of London, 1837-1911’, Victorian Studies, viii, 2 (1964), pp. 101–130 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Hospital Planning: The Origins of the Pavilion Principle in England’, Medical History, x, 4 (1966), pp. 360–373.Google Scholar

20 A. S. Wohl, ‘The Housing of the Working Classes in London, 1815-1914’, in S. D. Chapman, The History of Working Class Housing (1971); G. Stedman Jones, Outcast London (1971). See also Hitchcock, H.-R., op. cit., pp.386, 441, 454, 458, 569. 570.Google Scholar

21 RIBA, Transactions, 1881, p. 217.Google ScholarPubMed

22 4 February 1888, p. 35. See also Cox, H. A., These Stones: The Story of ‘The Builder’ (1937), p.75.Google Scholar

23 RIBA, Proceedings, n.s. iv, p. 143 Google Scholar. All other obituaries state 1815, e.g. The Times, 30 January 1888; The Builder, 4 February 1888, and notices published during Godwin's lifetime, Coulburn's New Monthly Magazine, August 1880. In the Register of Deaths, 1888, sub-district of Brompton, Middlesex, the age at death is given as seventy-four, the date, 27 January 1888, one day before Godwin's seventy-fifth birthday. His brother, Ashton Godwin MD was present at the death and informed the Registrar. That Godwin was either genuinely unaware of his real year of birth or consciously wished to conceal it seems to be confirmed by a letter (in the London Art Union MSS, British Library) to a firm of publishers. This is attached to a series of printed proofs of biographies of ‘eminent persons’, sent to individuals concerned for their verification. Godwin writes: ‘Your … notice is correct as far as it goes.’ A few alterations have been made in Godwin's hand but the date of birth, 1815, remains.

24 Godwin's will. Calendar of Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration, 1888, F & G, Somerset House; Brompton Cemetery, Record of Burials.

25 See plaque in Holy Trinity church, Brompton. As the church was consecrated only in 1829 there is no record of marriages before this date.

26 See H. M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects (1956); Port, M. H., Six Hundred New Churches (1961), p. 85 Google Scholar. In 1831 Godwin senior was describing himself simply as ‘surveyor’. Register of baptisms, Holy Trinity church, Brompton, 23 November 1831.

27 Rate books, parish of St Mary Abbotts, South Kensington, 1828. See also E. Beresford Chancellor, The History of the Squares of London (1907); Sheppard, F., London: The Infernal Wen (1971), p. 106.Google Scholar

28 1819-28, No.6 New Street; 1828-37, N0.24 Alexander Square; 1837-49, No.11 Pelham Crescent; 1849-73, No.24 Alexander Square; 1873-88, No.6 Cromwell Place. All the addresses are in Brompton, South Kensington.

29 Kaye, B., op. cit., pp.47, 51.Google Scholar

30 Reeder, D. A., ‘Capital Investment in Western London in the Nineteenth Century’, Doctoral dissertation, University of Leicester (1965), p. 18.Google Scholar

31 Faulkner, T., History and Antiquities of Kensington (1820), p.483.Google Scholar

32 Ibid. Also Register of Baptisms, St Mary Abbots, 1813-22, p. 151.

33 G. Stedman Jones, op. cit.

34 Coulbum's New Monthly Magazine, August 1880.

35 See obituary of W. Wyon RA, chief medal die engraver to the Royal Mint, The Builder, 19 July 1851, p. 709.

36 L. Reeve, op. cit.

37 Munford, W. A., Edward Edwards, 1812-1886: Portrait of a Librarian (1963), pp. 14–16 Google Scholar. Munford refers to Frederick Crace, J. G.'s father, but must be in error.

38 See Kelly, T., A History of Adult Education in Great Britain (1970), pp. 98–113.Google Scholar

39 Ibid.

40 Laws of the Western Literary and Scientific Institution (1834), p. 1.

41 See Literary Union. A Monthly Magazine Conducted by Members of the City of London and Western Literary and Scientific Societies, i, 1–6 (1835); i, 1, p.49.Google Scholar

42 Ibid., p. 1.

43 Ibid., p. 104.

44 Correspondence of Edward Edwards, Manchester Public Library, letter 768. Subsequently Ed. Corr. L.

45 Ed. Corr. L.452.

46 Ibid.

47 Literary Union (August 1835), pp.41, 317.Google ScholarPubMed

48 See Kaye, B., op. cit., p. 80.Google Scholar

49 RIBA, Minutes of Council, 8 December 1835. The other two sponsors were Edward Foxhall and Samuel Beachcroft.

50 Godwin, G., ‘The Nature and Properties of Concrete’, Transactions of the Institute of British Architects, i (1835-36), pt 1 (1837)Google Scholar, passim.

51 Architectural Magazine, iii (1836), p. 480.Google Scholar

52 The Builder, 4 February 1888, in Godwin's obituary notice.

53 Ibid., 10 January 1857, in Britton's obituary notice.

54 On Britton see Mordaunt Crook, J., ‘John Britton and the Genesis of the Gothic Revival’, in Summerson, J. (ed.), Concerning Architecture (1969), pp. 98–119.Google Scholar Godwin seems to have had a close relationship with Britton until the latter's death in 1857. Britton served on the committee of the Art Union of London, collaborated with Godwin on the production of The Churches of London, shared his interest in railway promotion and the development of an ‘art magazine’. Through Britton's connection with the church of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Godwin, in all probability, got the commission for restoring it. Godwin was secretary responsible for a subscription raised in honour of Britton in his old age and when he died designed his tombstone (in the manner of Stonehenge) in Norwood cemetery, South London.

55 Godwin, G., The Churches of London, 2 vols (1838)Google Scholar, Preface.

56 ‘I think I picked up a little credit by it’, he wrote to Edwards after reading the paper at the IBA (Ed. Corr. L.459). This was later published in Architectural Magazine, iii (1836), p. 193.

57 Ed. Corr. L.476, 604, 628.

58 Roberts, D., Victorian Origins of the British Welfare State (1960), pp. 25–27.Google Scholar

59 See DNB under Whateley, R.

60 Roberts, D., op. cit., pp. 199, 28.Google Scholar

61 For a more detailed account see A. D. King in Victorian Studies (1964) ut supra.

62 Ed. Corr. L.494.

63 King, A. D. op. cit., p. 105.Google Scholar

64 Ed. Corr. L.699.

65 King, A. D., op. cit., p. 105.Google Scholar

66 Jenkins, F., op. cit. (1968), p. 157.Google Scholar

67 Godwin's will. See note 24 above.

68 Ed. Corr. L.463. It is interesting to note that these views of Godwin confirm those of Kenneth Clark in The Gothic Revival (1964), p. 99.

69 The Art Union, (October 1839), p. 153.Google ScholarPubMed

70 Subsequently published in the Architectural Magazine, iv (1837), p. 464.

71 Mordaunt Crook, J., op. cit., p. 102.Google Scholar

72 See note 6 above.

73 Architectural Magazine, iv (1837), p. 484.Google Scholar

74 Ibid.

75 Society of Antiquaries of London, Minute Book xxxvii, p. 221.

76 Ed. Corr. L.604.

77 Society of Antiquaries, Proceedings, xii, ser.2, p. 141.Google Scholar

78 ‘Certain marks discernable on the stones of various buildings, etc’ Archaeologia, xxx (1844),pp.113–120.Google Scholar

79 Ed. Corr. L.663.

80 Ibid. Also IBA, Minutes of General Meetings (1838), pp.86, 232.

81 Architectural Magazine, v (1838), pp. 250–255, 304-310, 361-366, 411-417, 464-468, 514-519, 577-581.Google Scholar

82 Ibid., p. 411.

83 Ed. Corr. L.663.

84 ‘like all others I have written [destined] to the tomb of the Capulets.’ Ed. Corr. L.663.

85 See Mordaunt Crook, J., op. cit. (1969), p.73.Google Scholar

86 The Art Union, 1 January 1844, p.7.Google ScholarPubMed

87 Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal, viii (1844), p. 468 Google Scholar

88 Ibid.

89 Ed. Corr. L.663.

90 Ed. Corr. L.612.

91 Ed. Corr. L.700, 4 February 1839. Significantly, the apostrophe disappeared. As the Art Journal it continued from 1849 to 1906.

92 Royal Society, Proceedings, cxxxi (1841).Google Scholar

93 Certificates of recommendation to membership of the Royal Society, viii, 1830-40, Royal Society, London.

94 Ed. Corr. L.769 (no date).

95 Vol. V, p. 305.

96 The ‘Essay on Concrete’ indicates building activity at Ware, Herts.

97 Ed. Corr. L.445.

98 Ed. Corr. L.445. L.700.

99 RIBA, Minutes of General Meetings, 1835-41, pp.351, 362, 372, 232.

100 See D. Roberts, op. cit.

101 Civil Engineer & Architect's Journal, v (1841), pp. 49–50.Google Scholar

102 ‘Architecture as a Fine Art: Its State and Prospects in England’, Ibid., pp. 338-339.

103 Ibid.

104 Civil Engineer & Architect's Journal, i (1837), p. 7.Google Scholar

105 Mordaunt Crook, J., op. cit. (1969), p.78, n.83.Google Scholar

106 RIBA, Minutes of Council, 21 December 1840.

107 The Builder, 4 January 1845, p. 7 Google ScholarPubMed. Demolished later in the century. The only earlier evidence of Godwin's architectural work is a design for the facade of the Western Literary & Scientific Institution, No. 47 Leicester Square, dated 1838-39, in the RIBA Drawings Collection. See RIBA, Catalogue of the Drawings Collection, G-K (1973),p.45.Google Scholar

108 Work referred to in The Builder includes Redcliffe Infants’ School and Residence, Pile Street, Bristol (1853), pp.241, 248-249; Walls Court Farm, Stoke Gifford, Bristol (1855), pp.340-343, 367; Stanley Farm, Bristol (1860), pp.134, 137; houses (with his brother Henry), ‘Rockhurst’, West Hoathly, Sussex (1867), pp. 276-277, 350; ‘Elmdale’, Clifton Downs, Bristol (1867), pp.757, 764-765; RedclifFe Mansions, Kensington (1871), p. 106; The Boltons, Kensington ( Hitchcock, H.-R., op. cit., p.441 Google Scholar). Churches include St Mary's, The Boltons (1849), p.277, (1850), pp.466, 499 (see also Port, M. H., op. cit., p. 181 Google Scholar); restoration work at St Mary's, Ware (1847), p.615; Fulham church tower (1846), p.54; St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol (1849), p.7, (1856), pp.74-76, (1859), p.663, (1867), p. 171 (see also St Mary Redcliffe Restoration Committee, Sixteen Years Doings in the Restoration of St Mary Redcliffe Church (1858)); Standen church (1865), p.65; Little Munden church, Herts (1869), pp. 626-627; designed St Jude's, Earl's Court, London (1870), p. 547, (1871), pp. 366-367.

109 E.g. J. C. Loudon, W. Bridges Adams, Sydney Smirke and Henry Roberts. See Pevsner, N., ‘Model Houses for the Labouring Classes’, Architectural Review, xciii (May 1943)Google Scholar; also J. Tarn, op. cit.

110 Flinn, M. W., introduction to Chadwick, E., The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain (1842), Edinburgh University Reprint, 1965, p. 42.Google Scholar

111 Architectural Magazine, v (1838), p.252.Google Scholar

112 See A. D. King in Victorian Studies, (1964).

113 ‘Architecture for the Poor’, The Art Union, v, 1 January 1843, p. 12.Google Scholar

114 H. A. Cox, op. cit.