The Life and Works of Henry Rice, Architect (1808-1876)

A talk, by George Vaughan Ellis RIBA, given at the conclusion of an Exhibition held at Stuart House Liskeard 23 July 2001

One must count it a great privilege to be in a position to present this Exhibition and Talk to do honour to a man to whom our Model Borough of Liskeard owes so much. It was my good fortune to inherit and be able to continue, in 1950, the Practice which Rice founded in 1837.

It is customary for one to reserve acknowledgements and thanks to the last item. On this occasion much is owed to the help and cooperation of friends and colleagues without whose assistance this event could not have been staged. Accordingly I wish to begin with thanks to the following:- first of all the Stuart House team of Eileen Crouch, Jean Wills and John Rapson; then those who have contributed from their collections; namely, Mrs Heather Medlen of Liskeard Museum; Kim Cooper and Terry Knight of Cornwall Studies Library, who gave up their section of the Spurway Collection, and Cornwall Records Office, who have contributed another part of the Spurway Collection and also part of the Wilks Vaughan Ellis Practice Collection; Rosedean Surgery for their collection of beautifully framed drawings; Mrs Sylvia Morcom for drawings loaned from her late husband’s collection. We also owe thanks to Mr Mark Packer who has spent a lot of time studying and recording drawings of some of Rice buildings, which we have been honoured to display. And, thank you “one and all” for your interest and attendance this evening.

Henry Rice was born in Kenwyn, near Truro, in 1808. His parents were farmers and he is one of a long line of first-born sons christened Henry. At this time we have no information as to his childhood and education but it is probable that he went to Truro Grammar School. At the age of 18, in 1826, he came to Liskeard and was articled to Robert Coad, a local Surveyor of good repute. One mystery is how Rice came to be so skilled at drawing and design, an attribute he may have acquired before he joined Coad. Since it is reasonable to conclude that he left school at the age of 16, I hazard a guess that he received some art training and, showing interest in Architecture, his parents sent him abroad for what was then a fashionable Continental Tour on which he was able to visit and sketch some of the World’s most famous Classical buildings. It is my conclusion that his work shows such an ‘italianette” influence as can only have come about from an actual visit to Italy. If he did not get to Greece there were books published from the 18th century with measured drawings of their ancient temples and setting out the principles of what are known as the Orders of Architecture. In fact when I took over the Practice in 1950 there were several such books in the Office Library but, to my everlasting regret, they were removed one day in my absence. I am sorry, therefore, that we cannot exhibit what were, I am sure, Rice’s standard reference books.

He married, in 1839, Jane Vian, a local farmer’s daughter. By 1861 he had a family of 4 daughters and one son - another Henry! (then aged 9); another Henry Rice was also living with them, a nephew who was articled to our Henry. All the daughters, except Jane, were married by 1881 when the household is recorded as-"Jane Rice, widow, Henry Rice, son, architect and Jane Rice, artist”; our Henry having died in 1876.

Regretfully at present we have no record of the careers of the two younger Henry’s following the demise of Henry senior.

The marriage of the eldest daughter, Lucy, in 1867 to the Rev. Webb (a native of Penzance) is a romance worth recording. The Rev. Webb was minister here at Liskeard Wesley for just one year, 1865-66, when he was moved to the Shetland Isles -just about as far from Liskeard as you could go in the UK! This must then rank as a great love story. For his wedding day, here in Liskeard, the husband has to travel over 1000 miles by boat and horseback to be united with his bride. Then following perhaps a brief honeymoon whisk his wife away on the return journey to a wind-swept, treeless and cold island. Happily it must have been a successful union of 45 years, despite the distractions of being moved no less than 20 times during their ministry and raising 7 children.

Now back to 1826 and the start of Henry’s professional career with Robert Coad, which also marks the commencement of a very significant period in our Town’s history and, notably, the creation of some wealthy patrons via the profits from Caradon’s mines. It was in this year that Coad was commissioned as Engineer for the Liskeard - Looe Canal. So Henry was to receive the rather unique experience of that project as well as the run of the mill work of Coad’s practice in Estate management and land surveying, which included responsibility for the roads under the care of the Liskeard Turnpike Trust. There was certainly also some architectural work in the design of farm buildings and toll-houses and, most probably, also the design of some of Liskeard’s buildings. I have seen various drawings signed Robert Coad which are almost certainly in Rice’s hand and some buildings of this period are undoubtedly Rice designs.

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