Name

Thomas Gallon Lumb

Designation
Civil Engineer, Architect, Surveyor
Born
1862
Place of Birth
Leeds
Location
Blackpool
Died
1953

 

  • Birth date           22 February 1862 at Leeds
  • Marriage (1)       1885 Louisa Meadowcroft (1860-1891) at Rochdale
  • Marriage (2)       1892 Alice Ann Saxon (1855-1938) at Rochdale
  • Death date        16 September 1953 at Blackpool

Born in Ella Place, Leeds on 22 February 1862, the son of Samuel Lumb, mechanical engineer, and his wife, Francie, Tom Gallon Lumb was educated at Leeds Mechanics' Institute, Owens College and at the Manchester School of Art. For several years he was employed as an engineer by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway; afterwards Resident Engineer, Preston Docks, and Manager with Messrs Garlick and Sykes, engineers, Blackpool.  He began independent practice in 1899 and soon afterwards became a director of the Fleetwood Estate Company which bought land in Cleveleys in 1901. Lumb’s practice designed a number of houses there, of which the most ambitious was the Rossall Beach Estate. For this project, Lumb approached Edwin Lutyens who produced designs for a scheme which was later abandoned. Lumb’s designs include a handsome pair with M-shaped sweeping gables and much weatherboarding. Possibly around the same time, Tom Lumb designed the Memorial Park in Fleetwood, based on Blackpool’s Raikes Pleasure Gardens. By 1903, Lumb was in partnership with James Eli Whitehead Dugdale and William Cardwell with offices on Birley Street in Blackpool and King William Street in the Strand in London. This partnership with Dugdale and Cardwell was dissolved on 30 April 1907.

In 1913, he formed a new partnership with his son, Francis (1888-1959), and William B Walton and the practice designed the terracotta-clad Beach Cinema in Blackpool, followed soon after by the Savoy Hotel with a small lead-domed tower. This partnership was also dissolved after only five years with Francis Lumb continuing in practice with Walton. Tom Lumb served on Blackpool Council, becoming a Mayor (1927-28), Alderman in 1933 and later a Freeman of the Borough. He joined Bispham Parish Council in 1903 and when it was absorbed by the Blackpool Town Council he was co-opted to the council. He was a member for 33 years, retiring in 1951. In 1885 he married Louisa Meadowcroft, Following her death in 1891 he maried Alice Ann, eldest daughter of Samuel Saxon, of Rochdale, the following year.

In 1926 Tom Lumb sued the Blackpool Corporation following a collision between a tram car and a motor car in which he and his wife were travelling. The accident took place at the point where the tram track crossed Clarence Avenue, Cleveleys. In evidence Mr Lumb mentioned that he was an architect and engineer, and had designed the tram track on which the accident took place.

Address
1903-1918    26 Birley Street, Blackpool,
1903            King William Street, Strand, London WC

Residence
1891           Firwood, Preston
1903           Beach Croft, Rossall, near Fleetwood, Lancashire
1911           The Towers Thornton-Le-Fylde, Lancashire
1927           Tom G Lumb JP Cleveleys Park Blackpool
1953           Thomas Gallon Lumb, 62 Fleetwood Road, Carleton, Blackpool

Obituary        Manchester Guardian 17 September 1953 page 2
Reference      Pike: Lancashire at the Opening of the Twentieth Century, Contemporary Biographies, page 413