1. William Henry White, 1838-1896.ウィリアム･ヘンリー･ホワイト

・ボアンヴィルのフランス時代の師匠の一人

ホワイトはロンドンのジョージ・モーガン(George Morgan, 1835-1915)のところで建築家修業をした後、フランスに渡り、しばし建築助手を務め、その後、パリに設計事務所を構えた。ボアンヴィルとの関係は＜フランス時代ののボアンヴィル＞を参照願うとして、普仏戦争勃発後、フランスを後にして、ホワイトは父親からの縁（インド植民地医師）で、1871年にインド植民地政府公共事業局建築家になった。2年後、帰英し、しばし建築雑誌（『ビルダー誌The Builder』）の編集主幹を務め、その後、王立インド工学校Royal Indian Engineering Collegeの建築学試験官となった。なんという巡り合わせか、1873年にホワイトはカルカッタに、ボアンヴィルは東京で仕事をしていたのである。さらに、ボアンヴィルが工部大学校校舎を設計している1874年、ホワイトはカルカッタのプレジデンシィ･カレッジPresidency Collegeの設計を終え、施行管理をしていた。1875年、ヘンリー･ダイアーが工部大学校で専門教育を始める1875年、ホワイトは王立インド工学校で建築学試験官を勤めていたのである。工学校小学校校舎がゴシック様式なのに対して、大学校本館はルネッサンス式になっており、プレジデンシィ･カレッジとの関係が想起される。ボアンヴィルには大規模建築設計の経験はなく、このホワイトかダグラスからアドバイスを受けていたはずである。

・1876年、工部大学校の専門教育が始まる前に懸案の建築学教師の任用をダイアーや山尾は準備していた。一つのチャンネルはグラスゴーの建築家キャンベル･ダグラスで、彼はグラスゴー大学哲学科を卒業し、親戚のマクヴェインに工学校小学校建物の建設を支援し、設計事務所の実務と共にグラスゴー建築家協会学校Glasgow School of Architects' Associationの教授、さらに王立建築家協会の理事（後に副会長も務める。トーマス･ロジャー･スミスと重なる）の職務を勤めていた。ダグラスは19世紀後半のスコットランドで最も学識豊かな建築家として認められており、マクヴェインの活動を通して日本に多大の興味を持っていたが、年齢的に日本行きは無理と判断し、ボアンヴィルに続いて、若手の建築学教師を周囲に探したのであろう。工部大学校の教師ポストは大学卒業者を対象としており、ソルボンヌを中退した（らしい）ボアンヴィルは候補者にはならず、またボアンヴィル本人もそのポストに興味を示さなかった。

・ホワイトは、1878年、王立建築家協会事務職長ポストに空きができ、ホワイトはそこに就任し、18年間も事務局長の職務を務めた。インド植民地や日本についての情報を持っていた。彼は、工務局事務局長のアルジャーノン･ミットフォードと仕事と趣味を通して交流があった。1881年初頭に園田孝吉が井上馨外相の指示で政府官庁集中計画のための建築家を探していた時、彼は滞日経験のあるミットフォードに先ず相談し、ついでミットフォードから王立建築家協会事務局長のホワイトが紹介された。前年、弟子であったボアンヴィルが明治政府雇いを辞めて日本に帰ってきていた。さてどんな対応をしたのであろうか、、、一月もしないうちに井上から園田にドイツの建築家を採用する予定なので、もうイギリス人建築家を探す必要はなという電報を受け取った。

・ボアンヴィルが設計事務所経営に失敗し（おそらく共同経営者の不始末）、新たな仕事を探していた時、支援の手をさしのべてくれたのはこのホワイト。友人のミットフォードに連絡し、ボアンヴィルを工務局に雇ってくれるように手配をしてくれた。工務局建築家として力量を発揮し、1892年にはインド植民地専属建築家に昇進し、おそらくこれもホワイトの推薦が効いだのだと思われる。インド植民地専属建築家は大変名誉な職務であった。

Source 1 Obituary in RIBA Journal 1896, Obituary in The Times of October 22nd 1896.

WILLIAM H. WHITE, Fellow, EIGHTEEN YEARS SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. Born january 1838; died October 1896.

   HE unobtrusive lives of most men who are devoted to intellectual pursuits attract little I attention from the world generally. In, these days of unseemly advertisement, when a flourish of trumpets too often heralds the personality rather than the work, the quiet labours of a thoughtful man are apt to be passed by unnoticed. Indeed, it may be said that men are to be found in all communities, with definite aims and actuated by high motives, for whom not one thought is spared to the value of their work or the influence they may exercise in the progress of mankind. The great centres of intellectual training, the learned societies, and the universities in all parts of the civilised world, are the home of the type of humanity which finds its chief pleasures in the higher ranges of mental occupation.

   Of such was our late lamented colleague, William H. White, for eighteen years Secretary of this Institute, who died on the 20th October, after an illness extending over several months. He was followed to his grave in Nunhead Cemetery, two days afterwards, by those who knew his worth and his labours, and with whom he had so long worked and striven in intimate association. In the brief obituary notice in The Times of the 22nd October it was said that diligence and unbounded activity marked his career. To these commendable qualities should be added a long course of honourable conduct, persistence in the faithful discharge of his duties, and a devotion to the Institute that knew no limits. White commenced professional life with but little extraneous help. 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 with a view to permanent residence. Fortune soon began to look kindly on the young Englishman located on foreign soil, and influential clients came to his door.

   For the Baron Fernand de Schickler he reconstructed a large portion of his Chateau de Bizy, once a favourite residence of Louis Philippe; and the Baron Arthur de Schickler entrusted him with extensive additions to the Chateau de Martinvast, near Cherbourg. He was also engaged upon some interesting work at an old chateau near Bourges, belonging to Prince Auguste d’Arenberg. These and a number of minor works seemed to secure for him apromising future. But the Franco-German War broke out, and shattered his hopes at a blow.

   His wealthy clients, who were mostly of German extraction, abandoned all building operations and quitted France, leaving poor White to pack up his effects and make his way back to England. And here must be recorded a touching incident in his career. Taking a last farewell look round the room which had served as his studio during a few happy years, instinct inspired him with the idea of laying all his drawings and materials on one table and covering them over with the Union Jack. In the following year, when quiet once more reigned within the walls of Paris, White visited his old room, and, to his surprise, found everything untouched and the covering flag undisturbed.

   Nothing daunted by the necessity of starting once more in professional life, White sailed for India, and, taking advantage of his father’s long connection there as a member of the Bengal Medical Service, entered the Public Works Department of the Indian Government. Here, again, his marked ability and diligence soon brought him into note, and important buildings, such as the Court of Small Causes at Calcutta (illustrated in The Builder, 23rd March 1878), the Monument to Chief Justice Norman, and the Presidency College were committed to his charge. After travelling in India and on the Continent, White returned to London and took up journalistic work, for which he had special qualifications. His contributions to The Builder at that period, in the form of reviews or original articles, are numerous enough, and are all stamped with an amount of research that would do credit to any writer in the highest ranks of literature.

   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. And now came the turning-point in his career. 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‘s eminent qualifications at once secured him the post. It is difficult to tabulate his official work in Conduit Street, or to enumerate his able services during a long term of 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.

    There were two influences in White‘s career which, more or less, seemed to govern his course of action. Perhaps his sojourn in Paris was the more potent. Adapting himself to French methods, moving freely amongst architects of repute,— and regarding with admiration” their systems of artistic and professional education, White brought with him to England ideas which he could never shake off. His views on many points were frequently foreign to English notions and methods, but the knowledge that he had acquired proved of infinite service in the transaction of his official duties. Few of his colleagues in this country are aware of the high esteem in which White was held by architects of all European countries, as well as the States of America. His constant correspondence with French architects especially was to him one of his most pleasurable occupations. A facile pen, and a perfect acquaintance with the French tongue and all technical expressions, made him a desired communicant in international matters relating to architecture and architectural practice. Scarcely nine months ago White, not in the best of health (for the seeds of his fatal disease were already sown), went to Paris as the accredited representative of the Institute to take an honoured part in a banquet to M. Charles Garnier on his promotion to the grade of Grand-Oflicier dc la Légion d'Honneur. The more than cordial reception given to White on that interesting occasion, when 150 architects and others belonging to the world of Art attended, was due as much to his endeared personality as to his representation of a Body always held in high esteem by our brethren throughout France. .

   The other influence to which reference has been made was the character of the literature he favoured about the time of his settling permanently in London. White was always a reader. He was so constituted intellectually that he could not but delight himself with the works of his favourite authors. Had White been unsuccessful in obtaining the Secretaryship, he would, in all probability, have drifted permanently into journalism. With this idea in view he took infinite pains to attain style in composition. Among the essayists and other writers of the period he selected for study, no author was more congenial to his taste than Swift, although terne and Smollett proved almost equally attractive. To the tinge of cynicism that permeates the pages of the gifted Dean may be ascribed that disposition to combativeness and satire that mars the general excellence of many of White’s well-studied compositions.

   Anyhow, his love of literature and books, and his special interest in the growth and extended usefulness of the Institute Library, never failed him. Solely to his endeavours and persistent action the Library has been enriched in recent years by a number of valuable works presented by English and foreign authors and publishers. And, at the last moment, when he felt the end was approaching, a kindly thought prompted him to indite a letter to his brother, as sole executor, with a fond request that all his books and papers relating to architecture might be at the disposal of the Institute he loved so well. But now his work is over, and the long day has closed. The morrow, which in his last lingering hours he was anxiously awaiting—the morrow when he would take his accustomed seat in Conduit Street, conduct his correspondence, and then, in the evening hours, in the Club Library, or in the quietude of his own room, give play to the love of writing something for the advancement of the Institute, will come no more. His book of life has been finished too soon. But any one who cares to turnover its pages will find therein a long record of thoughtful, well-directed work, of unswerving attention to the call of duty, and a devotion to the Institute that has no parallel.

ALax. GRAHAM.

2. Guyot

3. Campbell Douglas

4. William Chastel de Boinville

5. Robins

6. Morris

7. Algernon Freeman Mitford