James Ledingham

• Birth date            28 November 1849 at Aberdeen 
• Retired               1916 (ref RIBA Kalendar 1919-20) 
• Death date          21 April 1926 

James Ledingham was born in Aberdeen on 28 November 1849, and was articled to A & W Reid of Elgin and Inverness in 1864, remaining with them as assistant and managing assistant until 1870. In that year he moved to Bradford to work as Chief Assistant to Andrews & Pepper, remaining with them for ten years. He commenced independent practice at Bradford in 1880, initially at 53 Market Street, later moving to 1 New Ivegate. He passed the qualifying exam in 1884 and was admitted ARIBA on 8 June 1885, his proposers being George Ashdown Audsley, Arthur Cates and John Honeyman, and was elevated to FRIBA on 13 June 1892, his proposers being Cates, H Perkin and W H Thorp. He enjoyed a prosperous practice in Bradford, and particularly in Manningham. He retired in 1916 and died on 21 April 1926. He never married but lived with his sister, Margaret.

James Ledingham was born in Aberdeen on 28 November 1849, and was articled to A & W Reid of Elgin and Inverness in 1864, remaining with them as assistant and managing assistant until 1870. In that year he moved to Bradford to work as Chief Assistant to Andrews & Pepper, remaining with them for ten years. He commenced independent practice at Bradford in 1879, initially at 53 Market Street, later moving to 1 New Ivegate. He passed the qualifying exam in 1884 and was admitted ARIBA on 8 June 1885, his proposers being George Ashdown Audsley, Arthur Cates and John Honeyman, and was elevated to FRIBA on 13 June 1892, his proposers being Cates, H Perkin and W H Thorp.  In 1896 he was president of the Bradford Architects and Surveyors’ Society. 

While still employed by Andrews and Pepper he began to enter various competitions including two organised by the Building News,” and one by Manchester School Board. In 1879 he was awarded first premium for the rebuilding of Queen Elizabeth Grammar Schools, on a new site at Faversham, Kent, leading to his commencing independent practice in Bradford. 

In the 1880s and 1890s James Ledingham was designing villa residences in a stylistically mixed but idiosyncratically effective manner on the Rosse estate, Bradford, and elsewhere, using gables. half-timbering and 'Queen Anne' details. In addition, he obtained commissions for banks, schools, a congregational chapel, extensions to the Children’s Hospital, and commercial buildings. By the turn of the twentieth century, commissions for private residences were few but he was finding more work for commercial premises in central Bradford, culminating in his buildings in North Parade, built between 1907 and 1910. in a Renaissance and Jacobean style. These included 11-14; 16 and 18; 20-22; 24,26 and 28, North Parade, all Grade II listed. 

He retired in 1916 and died on 21 April 1926. He never married but lived with his sister, Margaret until his death.

Address
1880             53, Market Street, Bradford, Yorkshire,      
1885-1889    1, New Ivegate, Bradford, Yorkshire,
1890-1916    District Bank Chambers, Booth Street, Bradford

Residence
1881             Cunliffe Terrace, Manningham
1891             Park Mount, Manningham
1901             Parsons Road, Bradford
1911-1926    The Cottage, Parsons Road, Manningham, Bradford

Obituary       Builder 21 May 1926 v130 page 826 - obituary   
Reference     Linstrum, Derek     West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture
Reference     Directory of British Architects 1834-1914
Reference     DSA