Ambrose Poynter

Ambrose Poynter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Poynter

Poynter was a British architect. He was one of the founding members of the Institute of British Architects in 1834.

Early Life

Born in London on 16 May 1796, he was second son of Ambrose Lyon Poynter by Thomasine Anne Peck; the family was of Huguenot origin. Poynter was employed by John Nash from 1814 to 1818. In 1819–21, he travelled to Italy, Sicily, and the Ionian islands. He was present at John Keats's funeral in Rome on 26 February 1821.

Architectural Practice

Poynter set up for himself as an architect in London, initially at 1 Poets' Corner, Westminster. About 1846 he built for himself a house and offices in Park Street, now Queen Anne's Gate, also in Westminster. He became noted for his Palladian and Tudor Gothic fusion architecture including the relocated Hospital and Chapel of St Katharine, Regent's Park, London in 1826–7, and St Katharine's Lodge (its later name) for its Master, Herbert Taylor, along with Christ Church, Broadway (1841-1844).

Poynter designed a trio of churches in Cambridge, notable bright red brick buildings: Christ Church, Newmarket Road in 1837–39; the Church of St Andrew the Great on St Andrew's Road in 1842–43, and St Paul's on Hills Road in 1841. St Paul's was the target of criticism from the Cambridge Camden Society, in the first issue (November 1841) of its journal, the Ecclesiologist. While some of the society's members found the attack embarrassing, it was supported by Augustus Pugin. The issue was withdrawn, but an offer then to review another of the Poynter churches was not conciliatory, with St Paul's being called a "cheap church"; in 1843 the Church of St Andrew was called "miserable and meagre".

In 1851, Poynter was hired by Sir Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh to make additions to Pynes House near Exeter, Devon, including a ceremonial entrance hall in 1852. He also made additions to Warwick Castle and Crewe Hall.

Artist and illustrator

Poynter lived in Paris between 1830 and 1832, where Lavinia Forster (his mother-in-law from 1832) provided a social centre for artists. They included William Callow and Richard Parkes Bonington, as well as the sculptor Henri de Triqueti who had married another daughter. Poynter sketched with, and studied watercolor painting under, Thomas Shotter Boys, who was a lifelong friend. He was an architectural draughtsman, and provided illustrations and articles in Charles Knight's Pictorial History of England (1837–44), and his edition of Shakespeare. He was a member of the Arundel Society and the Graphic Society. A student also of heraldry, he made drawings to illustrate Francis Sandford's Genealogical History of England.

Later Life

In the mid-1840s, while serving in the capacity of the Official Referee of Metropolitan buildings, Poynter became Professor of Fine Arts at King's College London. From 1845–8, he was an inspector of the design schools but was criticized for his often contradictory reports. He served as secretary of the Institute of British Architects in 1840, 1841, and 1844, and also as its vice-president.

In 1858, Poynter developed an eye affection which led to his total blindness, and some of his commissions were taken over by William Burges. He died at his home in 3 Marine Place, Dover on 20 November 1886 and was reportedly buried in Kensal Green, London.

Personal Life

Poynter married Emma Forster (1800–1848), a granddaughter of the sculptor, Thomas Banks. Their daughter Clara Bell (1834–1927) was a noted translator. Their son, Sir Edward John Poynter (1836–1919), an artist, married Agnes MacDonald, sister to Georgiana Burne-Jones and Alice Kipling; Edward and Agnes's son Sir Ambrose Macdonald Poynter (1867–1923) was a calligrapher and architect.

Poynter married secondly in 1850.

• Wikipedia contributors. "Ambrose Poynter." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Data conflict: 16th May or 16th April 1796 dob

Additional Sources:

MacDonald Sisters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacDonald_sisters

His daughter-in-law, Agnes Poynter (MacDonald), was a talented pianist and thought to be the best looking of the sisters. She and her sister Georgiana received attention from prospective suitors who were friends of her brother and members of the Birmingham Set. She eventually married the future president of the Royal Academy Edward Poynter during 1866 in a double wedding with her quieter sister Louisa. Poynter appeared to be a manic depressive and he would paint continuously until finally collapsing when a work was finished. He was unemotional and it was Agnes who supplied the affection in their household. Her husband later produced paintings of two of her sisters. She, Jane Morris and her sisters Louisa and Georgiana are thought to be the inspiration for figures of Burne-Jones' 1864 painting Green Summer. Agnes, Lady Poynter, is thought to have died during 1906 from cancer despite an operation in 1903

- Georgiana Burne-Jones (MacDonald) was married to the Late Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, and was also the mother of painter Philip Burne-Jones, aunt of novelist Rudyard Kipling and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, confidante and friend of George Eliot, William Morris, and John Ruskin. She was a Trustee of the South London Gallery and was elected to the parish Council of Rottingdean, near Brighton in Sussex.

She is known for the biography of her husband, The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones and for publishing his Flower Book. She became the mother-in-law of John William Mackail, who married her daughter Margaret. Their children were the novelists Angela Thirkell, Denis Mackail and Clare Mackail.

- Alice Caroline Kipling (MacDonald) was one of the MacDonald sisters, English women of the Victorian era, four of whom were notable for their contribution to the arts and their marriages to well-known men. A writer and poet, she was the mother of the author Rudyard Kipling, aunt of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, and sister-in-law of Edward Poynter and Edward Burne-Jones.

Louisa Baldwin (MacDonald) was a writer who married the industrialist Alfred Baldwin in 1866 in a double wedding with her sister Agnes, who married Sir Edward John Poynter. Alfred and Louisa were the parents of Stanley Baldwin, who was UK Prime Minister on three occasions. After his birth, Louisa seemed unhappy with her life in Worcestershire where her husband was an ironmaster. She had at least one miscarriage and spent time in a bath chair, and days alone in darkness.

Louisa was, in time, the grandmother to Oliver and Arthur Baldwin, respectively the second and third Earls Baldwin of Bewdley. Louisa wrote novels, short stories, and poetry, sometimes credited under her married name "Mrs Alfred Baldwin".