New information on Arthur Beresford Pite.

23 February 2008

By Jeane Trend-Hill

You may think this is the Arthur story you already know but there is a twist! Despite discovering he is not interred in Cowgate as we were previously told, Pite still had connections with Dover – he met and later married Mary Kilvington Mowll in Whitfield Parish Church (the Mowll’s were a prominent local family involved with the Cinque of Ports and donated the land for Cowgate cemetery.) It was a bit of a shock but not a surprise as the story unfolded……………

Finding Arthur – again!

I was only thinking the other day that it was coming up to my office buildings 100th anniversary, 22nd January 1908 - 2008, and I wouldn’t be there for it. I had worked in the building for over 26 years as a Facilities Manager but in 2006 I got married, moved house and left work. Shortly afterwards the building closed. I always imagined I would throw a party to mark the occasion. I did an online search on Arthur Beresford Pite (1861 – 1934) the building’s architect to see if anything new had been added about him. Most of the entries are about my website on him but every once in a while there was something new.



My story began in December 1978 when I started work for the Civil Service at an office in Euston, North London that was supposedly haunted by Arthur. Inexplicably I felt right at home but I encountered many strange things over the years particularly after I carried out extensive research into his life and work. I became totally fascinated with Arthur; I visited and photographed the other buildings he designed, obtained copies of his birth, marriage and death certificates along with his will and family tree. My most prized possession is a hand written letter he sent in 1917 whilst teaching at the Royal College of Art in South Kensington.



Arthur Beresford Pite was born on 2nd September 1861 in Newington London. The Pite lineage originated from Woodbridge Suffolk and can be traced back to the late 1600’s. Young Arthur was educated at Kings College School. In 1877 he entered the office of The Builder’s Journal doing mainly literary work; he also attended the Royal Architectural School. In 1878 he became a partner with the notable architect John Belcher.



The Pite family transferred to Ramsgate Kent where Arthur and his brother William shared an architectural office. On 20th April 1887 Arthur married Mary Kilvington Mowll at the Parish church of Whitfield in Dover and they moved back to Brixton. They had four children, Grace Sarah (1888), Ion Beresford (1891), Molly (1897) and Arthur Goodhart (1896.)



Arthur continued working on his commissions including the Burlington Arcade Piccadilly, Christ Church Brixton, Kampala Cathedral Uganda, a hospital in Jerusalem, The Institute of Chartered Accountants Moorgate and a West Islington library to name but a few. He also served as professor of architecture at the Royal College of Art and Cambridge University where he was considered a gifted teacher and speaker. In 1889 he built Earlywood a large family house at Frinton, Essex. Here he enjoyed many happy holidays with his wide circle of friends and relatives. In 1903 he moved to York Gate, Regents Park London and it was there that his beloved wife Mary died in 1905.



In 1906 Pite began his commission to build the headquarters of the London, Edinburgh and Glasgow Assurance Company at Euston Square. It was a magnificent building of Portland stone, Grecian in style and spanning seven floors. The building took two years to build and Pite was asked to add further extensions almost as soon as it was finished. He continued to enlarge the building for almost 20 years.



At least half of Pite’s smaller commissions were in the Marylebone area off Oxford Street London. He always retained an office in this vicinity even when he lived in Brixton and Beckenham. Pite regularly attended the Nash built All Souls Church in Langham Place where he was invited to design the Peace Memorial floor of 1918/19. Its Byzantine mosaic style is reminiscent of his floor in the London, Edinburgh and Glasgow Assurance Company’s entrance hall. The similarities are so great I knew it was his work before I even verified the fact.



In 1914 Pite moved his home to Hampstead. Following Mary’s death his sister Annie Mary cared for Arthur and his family. His daughter Grace who suffered ill health spent most of her time at Earlywood with Sadler, the family’s old nanny as she felt the costal air more beneficial. In 1930 Arthur moved to Beckenham Kent in order to live near his brother William and this is where on 27th November 1934 he died from exhaustion and skin cancer.



As I was the building manager I believe Arthur looks after me as I looked after his building. I would often hear footsteps on the floor above when I’d been there with only one security guard who was sitting opposite me! On another occasion I was talking about Arthur to a new member of staff as he was stacking binders into a bookcase, within minutes they all flew out again and landed in a heap on the floor. Lights would regularly turn themselves on and off. You would have to get up and flick the switch down again, it wasn’t just a case of the light tubes going out, these turned themselves off! The sound of wheels turning could be heard in the basement (workmen often said they won't go there as they felt someone was watching them.) An architect refused to return after I argued with him over his unsympathetic plans for refurbishment, an oak door behind us which weighs a ton closed by itself. It was propped open with a heavy weight. I've never seen someone run down the stairs so fast. Needless to say his plans were never carried out and I then had the building Grade 2 Special listed due to its significant architectural importance!

My most memorable event was when ‘someone’ stopped me from falling headfirst down a steep flight of stairs and out of a large open window. I was carrying a heavy box which I couldn’t see over the top off and slipped off the first step. Suddenly I was pulled back up by the shoulders. I turned around to thank who ever had saved my life, but there was nobody there. No one could have passed me on the staircase without my seeing them. I also survived several bad electric shocks, a mugging / robbery attempt, a light fitting falling on my head, 2 collapsed ceilings and fires within the building!

One of my new security guard’s had a strange experience too. He had heard the stories about Arthur and mentioned he'd love to ‘see’ him but quickly added that he didn't believe in ghosts or such like. He arrived early one morning and was walking through the office to open the back door for the builders when he noticed someone sitting at a desk. Puzzled as he was the only one in the building at the time he turned around to put on another light and when he turned back there was no one there. He was a total sceptic but I think this has convinced him that Arthur was not happy with those particular builders! Staff would often get an overpowering smell of old fashioned sweet tobacco too - Arthur smoked a pipe.

I ordered a book about his architecture “The Golden City, Essays on the architecture and imagination of Arthur Beresford Pite.” Flicking through it saw a portrait of Arthur, it was the first time I’d seen his picture. I wanted to know what he looked like and if I had actually ‘seen’ him in the building. I was astonished because he was the man I’d noticed on several occasions outside the office and often accompanied by a man in an old-fashioned railway uniform. I would have almost believed that he was someone working in the area until I turned up in Wembley which is miles away for a meeting one day only to see them walking across the road! He looked almost otherworldly with bright blue eyes and glowing white hair. On the last occasion I glimpsed him I was determined to approach him and ask who he was but just as I caught up with him he literally disappeared and I never saw him again......

I discovered recently that drawings by Arthur from the Pite library (I didn’t know there had been one) were sold at auction last November. I was pretty gutted to say the least but other than my husband no one knew about this – except Arthur obviously because a day later a gentlemen contacted me knowing I had carried out research on Pite and sent me photos of the seven drawings and asked me if I wanted to buy them. Naturally I did. Was I shocked or amazed? No, it’s just the sort of thing Arthur does!

It became my mission to find out where Arthur was buried, it took me around 18 months to track him down. I was informed he was with his wife Mary Kilvington Mowll in her family vault in Cowgate cemetery, Dover, Kent. I jumped on a train the next day and two hours later arrived in Dover. When I visited the grave I read through a long list of Mowll’s buried and commemorated there and noticed the inscription stated “Mary Kilvington Mowll wife of Arthur Beresford Pite” it didn’t actually say that he was buried there. I always had a feeling that maybe he wasn’t even though I had it confirmed twice by the people who now manage the cemetery. I was shocked but not surprised when I later discovered that he wasn’t interred there.



Back to the present, during my online search I found an entry in a West Norwood Cemetery newsletter as follows: “A further 76 additional people, commemorated in the cemetery include Arthur Beresford Pite (1861-1934) architect and educator”. It made more sense as he died in nearby Beckenham 29 years after his wife. I contacted the cemetery manager for further information and he confirmed that Arthur was buried there. I had found him – again!



A couple of days later I received some more information.



“Further to your enquiry also buried in the above grave are:

Mary Pite June 12th 1930 aged 73 years.

Adjacent north of the grave are:

Mary Hephzibah Pite November 12th 1897 aged 5 weeks.

Mary Kilvington Pite June 27th 1905 aged 49 years.

Grace Sarah Pite October 29th 1924 aged 36 years.

There are similar headstones on both graves but sadly no inscriptions”.



This also meant that Pite’s wife wasn’t actually buried in Cowgate cemetery either, she was just commemorated there. The family members buried with Arthur in West Norwood are his wife Mary Kilvington who died in 1905, their 2 daughters Mary Hephzibah (sometimes referred to as Molly) and Grace Sarah. The other Mary who died in 1930 was Arthur’s sister Annie Mary.



We arrived at West Norwood cemetery in South London and headed off down a slippery path, stepping over the remains of corner stones and around a tree and…….there he was. Two graves are side by side, one for Arthur and his sister and the other for his wife and two of their children. They are Nouveau in style and originally had copper plaques with the inscriptions. Sadly these have been lost or (more likely) stolen. There is a decorative stone border down one side of Mary, his wife’s grave. This grave is in need of the most work as there is subsidence and the headstone is leaning forward. It’s not about to topple as it’s currently supported by the stone slab below it. It will become a major problem in the future unless it is repositioned upright. The base is separating due to the movement of the stone. Ironically the copper backing to the inscription plate has left the word ‘Loved’ etched into the stone. At one time it would have probably read ‘Beloved wife’. Arthur’s grave faired a little better; it’s upright with no obvious damage other than age. I had tears in my eyes when I left him. He is in a lovely area with nice neighbours! He has Baron de Reuter (newspaper magnate) for company and a short walk away is another architect John Belcher with whom Arthur worked with for a number of years. He is surrounded by family and friends, I liked that.



The next step is raising funds so that the grave can be made safe and replacement copper inscriptions can be added. The name ‘Arthur Beresford Pite Architect and Educator’ can once more be known. I have set up a fund to carry out the necessary repairs and to restore it to fitting state.

All donations to the Pite Memorial Restoration Project no matter how small will be gratefully received. The cost of the work will be in the region of £3000.



If you wish to contribute please e mail me at: Prcs@blueyonder.co.uk for further details. Payments can be made direct to the bank account or by cheques, postal orders, banker’s drafts or money orders. Every penny counts. Bank statements are viewable at any time to contributors.

Video links: Fundraising video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS-x6rLOw4E

General view of the state of the grave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUdMFqlmm7c

My book about Arthur’s life and work is now available from: http://stores.lulu.com/jeanetrendhill price £4.49. All proceeds of the sales go towards the restoration fund. I am also a special guest on BBC Radio Essex at 3:30pm on 26th February talking about Arthur, 103.5, 95.3FM and DAB Digital radio. You can listen on the internet at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/local_radio/


Jeane Trend-Hill