Comper, Sir Ninian
Sir Ninian Comper (1864-1960) was one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects, his work concentrating on churches and their contents. He is well-known for his stained glass, his use of colour, and his subtle integration of Classical and Gothic styles. He was born in Aberdeen and spent 6 months as an assistant to C.E. Kempe, before being articled to Bodley & Garner, 1882-87.
He established his own business in 1888 in partnership with William Bucknall, who he had met at Bodley & Garner. The partnership was dissolved in 1905 but Comper’s originality and imagination needed the support of a succession of more practical assistants. These included Ernest Jago, formerly chief draughtsman to J. F. Bentley, who had worked on Westminster Cathedral, and finally his great-nephew John Samuel Bucknall.
In all Comper designed fifteen churches and renovated, restored, altered, decorated and furnished many more. “No other English church architect of the twentieth century endeavoured to penetrate so deeply to the core of Western civilization by studying the church art and architecture of Europe in order to find their spiritual values for his own time” – Anthony Symondson. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
He was knighted in 1950.
Source: Sir Ninian Comper: An Introduction to His Life and Work by Anthony Symondson and Stephen Bucknall, (Spire Books, 2006)
