William Henry Knowles RIBA, FSA, FSAScot (14 May 1857 – 18 January 1943) was an architect, antiquarian and archaeologist.
[1] His most important work was his appointment in 1903 to complete Armstrong College Newcastle, after the death of the original architect R J Johnson.
Pevsner[3] says, “The front [of the college] was added in 1904 by W H Knowles in the typical Tudor-cum-Baroque of that moment”.
[3] He designed the plinth and laid out the sited on which the statue of Lord Armstrong stands in front of the Hancock Museum in Newcastle.
The shipping magnate and property developer William Milburn commissioned Armstrong and Knowles to design Guyzance, a Tudor-style mansion near Acklington, Northumberland.
[2] Other notable buildings include:[2] Knowles was a keen antiquarian and archaeologist who wrote many papers for local and national journals, served on many committees and supervised excavations.
[1] At his suggestion the upper room in the Black Gate of Newcastle castle was used as the Society's library and he provided the cases and furniture at his own expense.
[1] As a member of the History of Northumberland committee from 1900 he contributed plans and drawings of buildings to many of the volumes it published.
[5] He was also the chairman of the Gloucester Roman Research Committee which he founded, as well as a member of the bishop of Worcester's Advisory Committee for the care of churches, and the chairman of the Cheltenham Civic Society.
He also served as a member of the executive of the Worcestershire branch of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, a member of the councils of the Friends of Gloucester cathedral and of the friends Tewkesbury Abbey.
Knowles supervised may archaeological excavations including: The excavations at Corbridge, the Roman town of Corstopium between1907 and 1914, with R H Forster The barbican of Alnwick Castle 1902 The castle at Newcastle Tynemouth Priory church The old church at Sockburn Castle Rushen, Isle of Man After he retired and left Newcastle he continued archaeological work.
[1] After Knowles retired in 1922 he left Newcastle, first moving to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire and then to Malvern in Worcestershire.
[4] Knowles was a freemason and served as the master of the Northumberland Lodge and as the Provincial Grand Warden in 1913.
Burrow E. J, Knowles W H, Paine A E W, and Gray J W (1925) Excavations on Leckhampton Hill, Cheltenham, during the Summer of 1925.
Clifford, E M The Roman Villa, Hucclecote (1933) Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 55:323-376.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Andrew Reid & Co. Forster, R. H., and Knowles, W. H. (1910a) Corstopitum: report of the excavations of 1909.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Andrew Reid & Co. Forster, R. H., and Knowles, W. H. (1914) Corstopitum: report on the excavations in 1913.
Forster, R. H., Knowles, W. H., Haverfield, F. J., Craster, H. H. E., and Bushe-Fox, J. P. (1912) Corstopitum: report of the excavations of 1911.
Knowles, W. H. (1889) Recent Excavations on the site of the Carmelites, or White Friars, at Newcastle.
Knowles, W. H. (1894) ‘Fox and Lamb’ Public House, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle.
Knowles, W. H. (1898a) The ‘Camera’ of Adam de Jesmond, Newcastle, popularly called ‘King John's Palace’.
Knowles, W. H. (1909b) The Gatehouse and Barbican at Alnwick Castle, with an account of the recent discoveries.
Knowles, W. H. (1910b) The Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Oswin, Tynemouth, Northumberland.
Knowles, W H (1927) Deerhurst Priory Church, including the result of the excavations conducted during 1926.
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 50:97-102 Knowles, W. H. (1928) Deerhurst Priory Church: including the result of the excavations conducted during 1926.
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 51:1-16 Knowles, W H (1930a) Presidential Address.
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 52:79-92 Knowles, W H (1930b) Teddington Church, Worcestershire.
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 52:187-200 Knowles, W H (1931) The Church of S. John Baptist, Inglesham, Wilts.
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 53:191-205 Knowles, W H (1932) Black Friars at Gloucester.
(1934) Gloucester Roman Research Committee: report on the Barbican and Bon Marche sites.