Adolphus Henry Cates

• Birth date            About 1810 at Greenwich*
• Death date          17 July 1879 at Charterhouse
• Burial                  1879 at Brompton Cemetery

Adolphus Henry Cates is not included in either Colvin’s “Dictionary of British Architects to 1840” or the RIBA Directory of British Architects 1834-1914.  He never married and what little is known of his personal life has been gained from the family history of his sister who married Howard Stanton, a Victorian chess master. Although he styled himself architect throughout his life, his known architectural works are few. In Greater Manchester he was responsible for the design of the tower and spire of St Mary’s Parish Church, Bury and a school at Shuttleworth, near Bury. At the time he was in practice in York.

He was born in 1810 at Greenwich* or Kensington according to the various census returns. one of five children and the only son of (unknown) and Elizabeth Cates. He first came to prominence in 1834 when he published jointly with H F Lockwood “The History and Antiquities of the Fortifications to the City of York.” By this time, he was living in York and describing himself as an architect, although details of his training and the circumstances of his removal to York and his meeting with Lockwood have still to be determined. In 1834 Lockwood left York to set up a practice in Hull, while Cates remained in York producing engravings including for George Wightwick’s The Palace of Architecture (1840). Cates is not listed in the Pigot’s Yorkshire Directory of 1841 and appears to have commenced independent practice in 1842 in York. All his known architectural commissions were gained in the period 1842-1848 and included several small village churches in sparsely populated districts around Ripon. About 1848 Cates returned to London. (MG 1848) save for an unexplained visit to Derby (census 1851). In 1861 he was living with his widowed mother and unmarried sister in Pelham Street, Kensington. His mother died in 1863 after which he appears to have lived in lodgings. Nothing has yet been found of his activities during this period, although he continued to style himself “architect.”

Adolphus Henry Cates died on 17 July 1879, aged 69, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery.

Address
1843        8, Tower Street, York.

Residence
1834-1847    York
1848        London (Manchester Courier 15 February 1848)
1851         Cornmarket Derby (1851 census)
1861        Pedham Street, Kensington (1861 census)
1871        Brompton, Kensington (1871 census)
1879        Charterhouse, Holborn

Death notice    Pall Mall Gazette 23 July 1879 page 3
Death notice    London Evening Standard 24 July 1879 page 1