1. Alfred Darbyshire was born on 20 June 1839 in Salford, Lancashire, to William Darbyshire, the manager of a dyeworks, and his wife Mary nee Bancroft.
24 Facts About Alfred Darbyshire
1. 2.
Alfred Darbyshire was a nephew of George Bradshaw, the compiler of railway guides.
3.
Alfred Darbyshire's education began at the Quaker school in Manchester and continued from 1852 at the Quaker Ackworth School where his artistic abilities were recognised and encouraged by Henry Sparkes.
4.
Alfred Darbyshire completed his education at Lindow Grove Academy, Alderley.
5.
On leaving school, Darbyshire was articled to P B Alley of the architects' firm of Lane and Alley in Manchester and enrolled in the Manchester School of Art.
6.
Alfred Darbyshire was one of the founders of the first Manchester Architectural Association.
7.
Alfred Darbyshire designed Manchester's Gaiety Theatre and a theatre at Rawtenstall, and carried out alterations at Manchester's Theatre Royal and the Prince's theatres.
8.
Alfred Darbyshire first implemented this plan when he rebuilt the Theatre Royal, Exeter which had been destroyed in the Exeter Theatre Royal fire in 1887, killing 186 people.
9.
Alfred Darbyshire made designs for temporary exhibitions, including a military bazaar in Manchester in 1884, a Shakespearean show in the Royal Albert Hall the same year and in the Royal Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester in 1887.
10.
Alfred Darbyshire was involved in the design of several distilleries and factories for the Jameson family and was later engaged by Andrew Jameson to design a Tudor revival style mansion house for the family on Howth Head in the Northern suburbs of Dublin called Sutton House.
11.
Alfred Darbyshire was a man of many talents, which centred on the theatre.
12.
In 1869, Charles Calvert, actor-manager of the Prince's Theatre, Manchester, employed Alfred Darbyshire to redecorate the theatre.
13.
Alfred Darbyshire was friendly with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, and Walter Crane.
14.
Alfred Darbyshire could produce an intricate architectural watercolour depicting Durham Cathedral, or a busy colourful picture of a harbour in Whitby, now both in Stockport Art Gallery.
15.
Alfred Darbyshire was an art critic for the Manchester Guardian from 1868 to 1874 and thereafter, until 1905, he was an art critic for the Manchester Courier.
16.
Alfred Darbyshire published a volume The Art of the Victorian Stage, and innumerable pamphlets and brochures for occasions such as the Old Manchester and Salford Exhibition.
17.
In 1870, Alfred Darbyshire married Sarah Marshall with whom he had a son and three daughters.
18.
Alfred Darbyshire was an amateur actor and a friend of many actors, in particular Charles Calvert and Henry Irving.
19.
Alfred Darbyshire continued to be a member of the Society of Friends.
20.
Alfred Darbyshire became a fellow of the Institute of British Architects in 1870 and was its vice-president from 1902 to 1905.
21.
Alfred Darbyshire was president of the Manchester Society of Architects from 1901 to 1903.
22.
Alfred Darbyshire collected books on heraldry and these are now in the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
23.
Alfred Darbyshire was a member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts Manchester Arts Club the Brasenose Club and a council member for the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society.
24.
Alfred Darbyshire was cousin to the American industrialists and philanthropists William Poole Bancroft and Samuel Bancroft, the latter of whom corresponded extensively with Darbyshire about artwork.