Who was George Faulkner Armitage ?
George Faulkner Armitage (1849-1937)
Born in Altrincham to a prosperous Manchester cotton merchant and founder of Armitage and Rigby with mills in Manchester and Warrington. He qualified as a architect and started a studio based at his home Stamford House in Altrincham, he later opened showrooms in both Manchester and London.
One of his first commissions was the pulpit in Wycliffe Congregational Church, Warrington in 1873. Some of his other commissions include Mansfield College, Oxford (with Basil Champneys 1842-1935), The Devonshire Club, London, the re-modeling of The Fine Art Society's interior (exterior by Edward William Godwin) The re-decoration of the Liverpool Reform Club and the designing of the memorial cross in the garden of remembrance, Altrincham. He oversaw the manufacture of all items from wood to metal at his Stamford House studio.
His work was exhibited at the 1882 Manchester Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition, the 1883 Huddersfeild Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition, the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition of 1887 and the Paris Exhibition of 1889. The furnishing of the British Council Chamber in Paris 1889 saw him win a gold medal.
later in life he became a magistrate and was Mayor of Altrincham from 1914-18.
From
Gill Fitzpatrick, Decorative Arts Society Journal 31, 2007
Colin Graham, Altrincham History Society Journal 27, 2007
H. Blairman & Sons Ltd, 1996 catalogue
Jeremy Cooper, Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors, 1987