William H. White (architect)


William Henry White was a British architect, as well as 18 years secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects..

Early career

On the completion of his articles in London with George Morgan, he crossed the Channel, and, after a short term in the office of a French architect, established himself in Paris. He met influential clients, who commissioned him renovation of old chateaus including Château de Bizy and Château de Martinvast. At the time, White received an architect pupil, Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinvile
After the Franco-Prussian War broke out, White returned to the Britain and found new job in India through his father connection, where he entered the Public Works Department of the Indian Government.
He designed several important buildings, such as the Court of Small Causes at Calcutta, the Monument to Chief Justice Norman, and the Presidency College. After travelling in India and on the Continent, White returned to London and took up journalistic work, contributing his articles to The Builder. About this time he was appointed the Examiner in Architecture at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper’s Hill, a post be occupied for about two years.

RIBA Secretaryship

The Secretaryship of this Royal Institute became vacant in 1878 through the retirement of Charles Eastlake, the present Keeper and Secretary of the National Gallery. White gained the post, and served his time eighteen years—an era in the progress of the Institute marked by increased influence at home and abroad, and a necessarily more extended system of administration. A glance at any of the official publications at the period when White entered upon his duties, put in comparison with any recent number of the JOURNAL, or a volume of the TRANSACTIONS issued till within the last three years, will suffice to show the amount of increased responsibility imposed upon the Secretary as Editor of all the Institute publications.

Works

In 1892, he published "The Architect and his artists, an essay to assist the public in considering the question is architecture a profession or an art" in reply to "Architecture, a Profession or an Art" edited by Norman Shaw and T. G. Jackson.
This had been part of the course of events which resulted in the passing of the Architects Acts, 1931 to 1938 which established the statutory Register of Architects and monopolistic restrictions on the use of the vernacular word "architect", imposed with threat of penalty on prosecution for infringement.
The keeping of the Register of Architects is now governed by the Architects Act 1997, and the name of the body responsible for the Register has been changed from the Architects' Registration Council of the United Kingdom to the Architects Registration Board.