Charles Ernest Elcock

• Birth date            29 September 1878 at Belfast
• Marriage 1          1906  to  Agnes Broom Elcock divorced about 1934
• Marriage 2          Esther Katherine Miller Elcock (American)
• Death date          21 April 1944 at The Royal Masonic Hospital Ravenscourt Park London W6.
• Cremation           26 April 1944 at Golders Green Cemetery

Charles Ernest Elcock was born in Belfast on 29 September 1878, the son of Charles Elcock, curator of Belfast Art Gallery and Museum, and his wife Harriet Sophia (born Green), both Quakers. He was educated at Bootham School, York, and attended the Belfast Technical College 1895-96 before serving his articles with J J Phillips & Son of Belfast from 1896-1901. During the time of his pupilage, he attended classes at the Belfast School of Art and in 1900 won the School's Lanyon Travelling Studentship; he was also awarded a South Kensington scholarship. In 1901 Elcock left Belfast to work as one of the chief assistants in the office of Sir John James Burnet in Glasgow, where he remained until 1905. After a year as chief assistant to Matear and Simon in Liverpool he moved to Colwyn Bay in 1906. Here he practised in partnership with John Merry Porter until 1912 when he entered into partnership with John Brooke FRIBA of Manchester, but this partnership ended upon the death of John Brooke in 1914. Elcock continued to practice alone in Manchester still under the style John Brooke and Elcock until 1922 according to the listings in the RIBA Kalendar. By 1923 he had opened a (branch?) office in York. C E Elcock moved to London in 1923 where he took his former pupil Frederick Sutcliffe (1891-1958) into partnership. Sutcliffe had previously served his articles with Elcock (Porter and Elcock?) and had worked as a senior assistant to Rudolph Maximilian Butler in Dublin. 

Elcock and Sutcliffe rapidly established a flourishing practice, specializing in hospital design with commissions throughout the United Kingdom. In 1925 the firm won two hospital competitions in succession, namely Davyhulme near Manchester and Harrogate, followed quickly by that for a new out-patients’ department, operating and X-ray departments: Royal Hospital Wolverhampton. These successes brought many more hospital contacts, and later C E Elcock was invited to join the International Hospital Association, and on behalf of his firm visited the annual conferences held in Vienna, New York, and Brussels. New hospitals included: Oldham Maternity, Scunthorpe, Warminster, Hull, Women’s Royal Bethlehem (in association with the late Mr John Cheston FRIBA), Runwell Mental (Essex), Grantham, Driffield, Keswick, Cardiff Pathological Extensions to many others, including Chelsea Hospital for Women, and Hertford Hospital, where the “verandah ward” was first introduced, a principle which revolutionised hospital planning, and which C E Elcock evolved. Among general work may be mentioned The Daily Telegraph new building, Fleet Street, London, Epsom Grandstand; and extensions to Crewe Hall.

Elcock became a Licentiate of RIBA on 20 March 1911, his proposers being J J Burnet, H A Matear and J B Gass and a Fellow on 12 December 1912 when his proposers were J J Burnet, H A Matear and John Brooke. He married twice. Firstly in 1906 to Alice Broom ? by whom he had two daughters and whom he divorced about 1934, Subsequently he married Esther Katherine Miller ? an American

Charles Ernest Elcock died on 21 April 1944 at The Royal Masonic Hospital Ravenscourt Park London W6 and was survived by his second wife.

Address
1901 to 1905     Glasgow, Scotland    
1905 to 1906    Liverpool, England 
1906-1912       J M Porter and Elcock, Estate Office, Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire, Wales
1912-1914       John Brooke, and Elcock 18 Exchange Street Manchester
1918                John Brooke, John and Elcock, 178 Oxford Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock (Slater)
1919               C Ernest Elcock, FRIBA FMSA (John Brooke & Elcock) 178 Oxford Road C-on M.
1920               C Ernest Elcock, FRIBA FMSA 178 Oxford Road C-on M (RIBA Kalendar)
1922               C Ernest Elcock, FRIBA FMSA 178 Oxford Road C-on M (RIBA Kalendar)
1923               York, Yorkshire (Who’s Who in Architecture 1923)
1923               London, In partnership with Frederick Sutcliffe
1924-29          Charles Ernest Elcock (Elcock and Sutcliffe) Avenue House 21 Northumberland Avenue London WC2
1930-1933      Charles Ernest Elcock (Elcock and Sutcliffe) Adam House 60 Strand London WC2 [RIBA Kalendar]
1936               Charles Ernest Elcock (Elcock and Sutcliffe) 20 Grosvenor Square London W1 and Adam House 60 Strand London WC2 [RIBA Kalendar]

Residence
1901             Hughendon Avenue Clifton Ward, Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland (census)
1912             Swarthmoor, Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire, Wales  
1914-1917    31, Wood Road Whalley Range Manchester
1926             Windmill Hill House, Hampstead, London NW3 (Times 4 Sept 1926 p13)
1931-1932    12 Regent’s Court, Park Road, London NW1 (Times 2 Nov 1931 p15)
1944             2 Mansfield-street London W1

Note        No listing in Manchester Directories in 1912 and 1913

Partnerships
1906-1912    J M Porter & Elcock  
1912-1914    John Brooke and Elcock  
1923-            Elcock and Sutcliffe