Charles Robert Cockerell
Charles Robert Cockerell RA (27 April 1788 – 17 September 1863) was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer. He studied architecture under Robert Smirke. He went on an extended Grand Tour lasting seven years, mainly spent in Greece. He was involved in major archaeological discoveries while in Greece. On returning to London, he set up a successful architectural practice. Appointed Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts, he served in that position between 1839 and 1859. He wrote many articles and books on both archaeology and architecture. In 1848, he became the first recipient of the Royal Gold Medal.
Charles Robert Cockerell
27 April 1788
17 September 1863 (aged 75)
Architect
10, including Frederick
Samuel Pepys Cockerell
Anne Whetham
Royal Gold Medal (1848)
Background and education[edit]
Charles Robert Cockerell was born in London on 27 April 1788,[1] the third of eleven children of Samuel Pepys Cockerell, educated at Westminster School from 1802, where he received an education in Latin and the Classics.[2] From the age of sixteen, he trained in the architectural practice of his father, who held the post of surveyor to East India House, and several London estates.[3] From 1809 to 1810 Cockerell became an assistant to Robert Smirke,[4] helping in the rebuilding of Covent Garden Theatre (the forerunner of today's Royal Opera House).
Personal life[edit]
On 23 March 1828 he proposed marriage to, and was accepted by, Anna Maria Rennie (daughter of John Rennie the Elder) while strolling in the grounds of Dalmeny House, Scotland, she was twenty-five, and he was nearly forty.[34] The engagement ring was bought for £27 10s 0d in Edinburgh on 29 March and the wedding took place on 4 June 1828 in St James's Church, Piccadilly, the Bishop of London William Howley officiating.[34] The honeymoon started at Liphook, moving on to Chichester, the Isle of Wight, crossing to Portsmouth where they toured the Dockyard, and finally on 14 June The Grange, Northington.[35] The couple set up home at 87 Eaton Square.[36] In 1838 the family moved to Ivy House, North End, Hampstead.[31]
The first of their ten children, a son, Robert Charles was born in 1829 but died five years later, followed in 1832 by the second son John Rennie, a daughter in 1832, then in 1833 a son Frederick Pepys Cockerell who became an architect, followed in 1834 by Robert who became a soldier and died aged twenty in the Battle of Alma, then two more daughters and three sons, the youngest Samuel Pepys (1844–1921) would edit and publish in 1903 his father's travel diaries.[31]
By 1851 Cockerell was in poor health and spent that summer recuperating at his sister Anne Pollen's house in Somerset,[37] from this time on his architectural practice virtually ceased. The family moved to 13 Chester Terrace, where he died on 17 September 1863, aged 75.[37] He was buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral,[28] a perk of being the cathedral's surveyor,[38] his marble tomb consists of his profile portrait, suspended from an Ionic column, surrounded by rich embellishment.[39]
Freemasonry[edit]
Whilst in Edinburgh and working on the National Monument with fellow Freemason, William Henry Playfair, Cockerell was Initiated into Scottish Freemasonry in Lodge Holyrood House (St Luke's), No.44 on 18 May 1824.[40]
Cockerell's published works include:[41]
Entrance to the Ashmolean Museum
Taylor Institute, with Ashmolean Museum behind
Main Hall, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Main Hall, St. George's Hall, Liverpool showing Minton tile floor
Internal door, Main Hall, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Organ platform, Main Hall, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Detail of floor, Main Hall, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Organ, Main Hall, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Court room, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Court room, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Chandelier, Main Hall, St. George's Hall, Liverpool
Bank of England, Liverpool
Bank of England building, Manchester
Holy Trinity Hotwells, Bristol
Old Schools, Harrow School
Former Cambridge University Library
