Edith Hughes (architect)

Edith Mary Wardlaw Burnet Hughes HonFRIAS (7 July 1888 – 28 August 1971) was a Scottish architect, and is considered Britain's first practising woman architect, having established her own architecture firm in 1920.[1][lower-alpha 1]

Edith Hughes
Glasgow Mercat Cross (left), designed by Edith Hughes in 1930
Born
Edith Mary Burnet

(1888-07-07)7 July 1888
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died28 August 1971(1971-08-28) (aged 83)
NationalityScottish
Other namesEdith Mary Wardlaw Burnet Hughes
Alma materGray's School of Art
OccupationArchitect
Spouse(s)Thomas Harold Hughes
Children3
Parent(s)George Wardlaw Burnet, May Crudelius
Awardsthe first woman nominated for membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA),
elected an Honorary Fellow of the RIAS in 1968,
BuildingsGlasgow Mercat Cross and Mercat Building

Early life

Edith Mary Burnet was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of May Crudelius and George Wardlaw Burnet, an advocate. The family lived at 6 West Circus Place in the Stockbridge district.[3] The family moved to 59 Queens Road in Aberdeen when her father was created Sheriff Substitute for Aberdeenshire around 1890.[4]

Her grandmother Mary Crudelius campaigned for women's education.[5] Following her father's death in 1901 she was raised by her uncle, John James Burnet, a prominent architect.[1] They lived at 18 University Gardens in Glasgow.[6]

She travelled in Europe, studying art and architecture, and attending lectures at the Sorbonne, until around 1911, when she joined Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen. Initially studying garden design, she switched to architecture, and was awarded a diploma in 1914. The following year she was appointed a lecturer at the School. She briefly worked in the office of Jenkins and Marr, before marrying her former tutor, architect Thomas Harold Hughes (1887–1949), in 1918.[1]

Career
The grave of Edith Hughes, Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh

Hughes and her husband were refused a place in Burnet's London office, partly because there was no female lavatory.[7] However, the couple joined Burnet's Glasgow office, becoming partners in 1919. Disagreement with another partner led to both the Hughes departing the following year, to take up teaching at the Glasgow School of Art, where Edith later became head of architecture.[1] She set up her own practice in Glasgow in 1920. In 1927, she became the first woman nominated for membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the nominators including John Begg and her uncle, John Burnet. However, RIBA's legal advisers stated that she could not be elected, and RIBA remained an all-male institution until the election of Josephine Miller in 1938. She was similarly denied access to the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).[1] After the Second World War, Hughes re-established her practice in Edinburgh. She was elected an Honorary Fellow of the RIAS in 1968. She retired from practice soon after receiving her fellowship, and moved to Kippen, dying of pneumonia in Stirling in 1971.

She is buried with her parents in Warriston Cemetery in north Edinburgh. The grave lies on the main west path on its east side, where the ground level drops to the lower south section.

Family

Hughes and her husband had three daughters. She and her husband separated after the Second World War.[7]

Works
Coatbridge War Memorial (1924)

Her first commission was for the "Rutherford Memorial" in 1916, although the location and nature of this work are unknown.[8] In her own work, she concentrated on domestic commissions, including many residential alterations, and specialised in kitchen design.[1] Her public works included the Coatbridge War Memorial (1924), and the Glasgow Mercat Cross (1930), a replica of a medieval mercat cross located at Glasgow Cross.[9] She carried out alterations to the Lady Artist's Club in Blythswood Square, Glasgow, and was responsible for the conversion of several Edinburgh townhouses into flats. She was engaged on works at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral and Music School, Edinburgh, from 1956 to 1965.[10] Her most important commissions for the Cathedral were the stone font, with its wrought iron cover, and a wrought iron screen to the Chapel of St Margaret of Scotland.[11]

See also

Notes
  1. Hughes was not Britain's first woman architect; this may have been Elizabeth Wilbraham who was active in the early 1660s.[2]

References
  1. "Edith Mary Wardlaw Burnet Hughes". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  2. "Elizabeth Wilbraham, the first lady of architecture". The Independent. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  3. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1888
  4. Aberdeen Post Office Directory 1900
  5. There are more Edinburgh memorials to remarkable women than you might think, The Scotsman 6 June 2015
  6. Glasgow Post Office Directory 1902
  7. "Thomas Harold Hughes". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  8. "Rutherford memorial". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  9. "Mercat Cross, The". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  10. Glendinning, Miles; McKechnie, Aonghus (1996). A History of Scottish Architecture. Edinburgh University Press. p. 573. ISBN 0-7486-0849-4.
  11. McWilliam, Colin; Gifford, John; Walker, David (1984). Edinburgh. The Buildings of Scotland. Penguin. pp. 365–366. ISBN 014071068X.
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