Wyatt Papworth

After a short time in the office of Sir John Rennie, he became assistant surveyor, under Thomas Allason, to the Alliance Assurance Company.

[1][2] Papworth was elected a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1860, and sat for many years on its council.

He was interested in technical education, acting as a governor of the City and Guilds of London Institute, and represented his company on the governing body of Islington Polytechnic.

[1] In 1893, on the death of James William Wild, Papworth was appointed curator of Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

He sought to define the periods when fir, deal, and house-painting were introduced into England, and to determine the extent of the use of chestnut-timber in old buildings.

In 1852 the plan of the cyclopædia was reduced to a Dictionary of Explanation and Reference, which was started under the direction of a committee of leading architects.

The editorship and compilation of the Dictionary were entirely in Papworth's hands; nearly all the lists and references in the text and most of the biographical and topographical articles were also his.

[9] An early essay by Papworth on The Peculiar Characteristics of the Palladian School of Architecture was in 1849 awarded the silver medal of the Institute of British Architects.