George H. Widdows

George H. Widdows was born Francis George Henry Widdows in 1871 in the city of Norwich. He remained in Norwich for 23 years, attending the King Edward VI School, Norwich and then training to become an architect at the office of the Cathedral's Diocesan Surveyor.

To gain more experience he then spent three years with various architects around England. In 1897, he was appointed as Chief Architectural Assistant at Derby Corporation (forerunner of what is now Derby City Council). He spend 7 years there on minor building projects.

In 1904 Widdows was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.[1]

In 1904, Widdows made a move that marked the start of his specialisation on school architecture. He left Derby Corporation and joined Derbyshire County Council's Education Committee as Building Surveyor. The work he did for the Education Committee obviously made an impression on the County Council because, in 1910, they appointed him as Chief Architect across all their services. The massive school building programme during the subsequent period ensured that Widdows' efforts remained focussed on schools.[2]

He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1913.

By the time he retired in 1936, he had designed some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools in Derbyshire.

Widdows designed and built his own house at Allestree near Derby and retired there in 1936. He died at his home in 1946, aged 74.[2]

The growth in industry in the nineteenth century saw many people move around the country, particularly from rural to town areas, to gain employment. This resulted in population changes that required the building of new schools. This was particularly true in the east of Derbyshire where there had been a massive boom in the coal-mining and textile manufacturing industries in the 1890s.[3]

School boards were created in boroughs and parishes under the Elementary Education Act 1870. These boards were semi-independent of the borough and parish councils. School boards were abolished by the Education Act 1902, which replaced them with local education authorities (LEAs). In the case of Derbyshire the authority was Derbyshire County Council. The 1902 Act ensured that schools now had solid financing from local ratepayers and had to meet uniform standards. This led to a rapid growth, especially of secondary schools.

The Education (Administrative Provisions) Act 1907 meant that schools became subject to regular medical inspections. This led to a new working partnership between the medical profession and school architects and designers.

Prior to the setting up of school boards in 1870, the mass education that took place happened in buildings not purpose-designed for children e.g. church halls. After 1870, the school boards did construct purpose-built schools to locally determined designs but these were often cramped and poorly ventilated. Once local education authorities were set up in 1902, some standardisation of school building design began to take place.

In addition, at a national level, medical pressure grew to incorporate building design features to enhance child health and welfare. The first major national conference on school hygiene was held in 1904.[4] Within Derbyshire County Council, there was a good working relationship between the Medical Officer and the Chief Architect, George Widdows. This relationship nurtured the innovative designs of Widdows.

Typical health-related features of Widdows' designs included:

• Spacious classrooms
• Large windows, allowing natural daylight and sun to permeate the rooms
• Wide internal corridors to allow the pupils to exercise ("drill") in bad weather conditions
• External verandahs to allow the children to exercise in inclement weather
• Ventilation from both sides of the school buildings and rooms

Further characteristic features of Widdows-designed schools included:

• Single storey buildings where the site permitted
• Use of good (and often local) materials
• Standard designs that allowed different configurations depending on school site and size
• Often designed in an Arts & Crafts / neo-vernacular style[3]

The advances Widdows made in school design were recognised by his contemporaries. In an article on provincial school building in 1913, The Builder periodical stated that his work "constitutes a revolution in the planning and arrangement of school buildings... a real advance which places English school architecture without a rival in any European country or the United States."[5]

George Widdows became one of the most respected men in his profession and in 1921 read his paper on 'School Design' to the Royal Institute of British Architects. In thanking him, the Head of the Board of Education (equivalent to the Department of Education in 2015) Felix Clay said "No architect has done more than Mr. Widdows to develop the modern school. The whole emphasis of design has shifted. Instead of the old of compact three-storeyed central hall building we have a bewildering variety of plans from cart-wheels to L-shaped buildings, but all arranged so as to secure the maximum amount of sun and to get air into the classroom from both sides."[6]

George Widdows died in 1946, a year before the passing of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. This legislation was the foundation of the current heritage protection rules and its associated "listing" of historic buildings by English Heritage. Since 1975, sixteen of Widdows' schools have been designated as Listed Grade II, indicating that the buildings are nationally important and of special interest. Ilkeston School has received the higher designation of Listed Grade II*, indicating that the building is considered to be a particularly important building of more than special interest.[7]

Nikolaus Pevsner's Buildings of England is a highly respected series of architectural guides covering every English county. Pevsner's comments on Widdows buildings include "Also of interest [in Derbyshire] are some of the schools...those of G H Widdows...are enlightened in plan, with covered ways and large windows and always interesting in their motifs."[8]

In a more recent guide to Buildings in Derbyshire, Richard Stone says "Widdows had radical ideas...to meet demands for higher standards of health and hygiene in education. That he was able to put these ideas into practice is testament to the confidence he inspired."[9]

In 2011, English Heritage published a guide to outline the selection criteria to be used when designating education buildings. This specifically mentions Widdows, as follows: "As education moved away from instruction by rote, so the more ambitious authorities began to consider school buildings from the point of view of the child with issues of health and mental stimulation to the fore. A pioneer in the building of well-ventilated and less utilitarian schools was George Widdows, architect to Derbyshire Education Committee from 1904. His innovative designs, in a neo-vernacular style, with cross ventilation and a ‘marching corridor’ for exercise, proved lastingly influential."[10]

Although George Widdows has now received the respect he deserves from architecture, education, health and heritage professionals, he perhaps hasn't received the same level of recognition from the wider public. As an example, in 2011, George Widdows was one of twelve historical figures selected from about 70 public nominations for getting a Derbyshire County Council blue plaque dedicated to them. However, when it came to a public vote, Widdows did not reach the final six chosen.[11][12]