Family Tree

\

See Pugin's FindA Grave info HERE

Window at St Mary's Convent, Handsworth, showing, from l-r, Lord Shrewsbury, John Hardman, and Pugin

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, 1812-1852

some details taken from Alexandra Wedgwood's A. W. N. Pugin and the Pugin Family

1812
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin is born on 1 March at 39 Keppel Street, Russell Square, London, to architectural illustrator Augustus Charles Pugin (c. 1769-1832) and Catherine Welby (?-1833).  Educated partly at Christ’s Hospital, the younger Pugin went on expeditions with the pupils in his father’s architectural school, including several trips to France.

1827
Employed by royal goldsmiths Rundell & Bridge to design gothic furniture, still in place today, for the royal apartments at Windsor Castle

1829
Joins the staff of the English Opera House before moving to Covent Garden as a stage carpenter and scene painter, but is soon designing sets and costumes
Introduced to the Scottish architect James Gillespie Graham for whom he begins drawing
Establishes his own business designing and making furniture, which ultimately failed

1831
Designs stage scenery for the ballet Kenilworth
Purchases a sailing boat

1832
Marries Anne Garnett (1814-1832) who dies one week after giving birth to their daughter, also named Anne
Father A C Pugin dies
Begins drawing his first series of ‘ideal schemes’
Concentrates on training as an architect by making intensive study tours of medieval buildings

1833
Marries his second wife, Louisa Button (c. 1813-1844)
Completes the second volume of his father's Examples of Gothic Architecture
Mother Catherine Welby Pugin dies
Moves to Ramsgate
 
1834
Collaborates with antique dealers including Edward Hull
Begins making his annual sketching trips to the continent
Second child and first son Edward Welby born
Fire destroys most of the Palace of Westminster, including the two Houses of Parliament

1835
Moves to his self-designed home St Marie’s Grange, near Salisbury
Meets Charles Barry and designed interiors for him at King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham
Publishes Gothic Furniture, his first book of designs
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Barry employs Pugin to design the Gothic detail required in the competition to build the new House of Parliament

1836
Continues to help Charles Barry after the latter wins the competition to design the new Houses of Parliament
Third child and second daughter Agnes born
Publishes his most famous book, Contrasts, a polemical comparison showing the 'present decay of taste' compared to medieval architecture

1837
Completes the estimate drawings for Barry
Starts work on his first contribution to country house architecture, adding extensive Gothic details to Scarisbrick Hall in Lancashire
Begins collaborating with St Mary’s College, Oscott, where he would become Professor of Ecclesiastical Architecture
Meets the Birmingham metalwork provider John Hardman and John, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, who becomes a prominent Catholic patron
Relocates to London after selling St Marie’s Grange

1838
Begins work on his first major church, St Mary's in Derby
Makes his first trip to Ireland for a number of commissions
Undertakes summer trip through Germany and Switzerland
Meets the builder George Myers
Hardman begins to manufacture metalwork to Pugin’s designs

1839
Designs churches including St George, Southwark, St John’s Hospital, Alton, St Wilfrid, Hulme, and St Chad's in Birmingham, the first cathedral built in England since the Reformation

1840
Designs St Giles, Cheadle, the Bishop’s House, Birmingham, and the College of St Cuthbert, Ushaw
Starts working with the pottery manufacturer Herbert Minton
Fourth child and second son Cuthbert born
Develops friendships with several Tractarians at Oxford

1841
Publishes a second edition of Contrasts and the first edition of The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture
Fifth child and third daughter Katharine born
Begins work on cathedrals in Newcastle and Nottingham
St Chad’s in Birmingham opens

1842
Writes articles for The Dublin Review
Continues work on churches including the Cathedral at Killarney
Visits Ireland once and Scotland twice

1843
Designs for Balliol College, Oxford, are rejected
Starts building a new family home, The Grange, in Ramsgate
Sixth child and fourth daughter Mary born
Publishes An Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England which features a frontispiece showing three cathedrals and twenty-two other religious buildings designed by him

1844
Begins his association with the interior decorator J. G. Crace
Publishes The Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume
Second wife Louisa, mother of five of his children, dies
Returns to work with Barry on the interior designs for the Houses of Parliament where he utilizes the skills of his colleagues Hardman, Minton, and Crace

1845
Begins building the Catholic church of St Augustine next door to his own home in Ramsgate
Hardman begins manufacturing Pugin’s stained glass
Commissioned to rebuild the Catholic College of St Patrick, Maynooth
Visits Ireland three times

1846
Consecration of St Giles in Cheadle, Staffordshire
Decline in architectural commissions

1847
Makes his longest continental tour, leaving England at the end of March, travelling to Italy and returning home in the middle of June
Barry's new House of Lords is opened, with lavishly beautiful interiors and furnishings by Pugin
Makes three subsequent brief trips across the Channel
Undertakes much domestic work with J. G.Crace

1848
Meets and marries Jane Knill (1827-1909), with whom he has two more children
St George, Southwark opens to much criticism, particularly regarding rood screens
Designs major additions to Alton Towers and Alton Castle

1849
Focuses his attention on his church of St Augustine
Seventh child and fifth daughter Margaret born
Designs much stained glass, metalwork, tiles, and internal decorations
Publishes Floriated Ornament

1850
His daughter Anne marries John Hardman Powell, nephew to Hardman of Birmingham
Publishes a pamphlet to address recent criticism
Continues his decorative work with Hardman, Minton, Myers and Crace in preparation for the Great Exhibition

1851
The Medieval Court at the Great Exhibition, showcasing examples of Pugin's designs and his collaborators’ craftsmanship, is praised
Eighth child and third son Peter Paul born
Publishes A Treatise on Chancel Screens and Rood Lofts

1852
Queen Victoria opens the new Houses of Parliament, but Pugin does not attend and there is hardly a mention of his involvement
After years of strain and overwork, Pugin has a nervous breakdown and he is certified insane
Pugin dies, at home in Ramsgate, on 14 September and is buried in the chantry of the church he is building next door, St Augustine's

1858
The clock tower at Westminster, designed by Pugin and now commonly known now as Big Ben, is completed