Walter Liberty Vernon (1846-1914)

Walter Liberty Vernon
Born	11 August 1846
Died	17 January 1914
Spouse(s)	Margaret Ann Jones (1848-1919)
Parents	Robert Vernon (father) Margaret Liberty (mother)

Vernon was articled to the London based architect W.G.Habershon in 1862. He studied at the Royal Academy of Arts and South Kensington School of Art. On completing his articles he worked for Habershon and Pite taking charge of their branch office in Wales in 1869. It was in Wales that he met his wife, Margaret Ann Jones, in 1870.

Arriving in Hastings later the same year, he formed a partnership, Moran and Vernon, which would appear to have traded from 69 Warrior Square.

He and his wife had their first daughter, Margaret at Quarry Crescent on September the 10th 1871. By December of 1872, he was the hon. secretary of the Hastings and St Leonards Historical and Philosophical Society, becoming a vice-president by 1880. Associated with this, he was one of the petitioners for the formation of a museum in the town and was known as a keen supporter of the temperance movement.

By 1881, he was residing at Clytha House, listed as being number 5 of a row of houses adjoining Gensing Gardens, London Road (possibly Clyde Road), he was listed as having two daughters and a son. He was one of a number of subscribers who petitioned the Mayor for the formation of a Municipal School of Art. By 1882, he and his family had moved to The Hurst in Hoadswood Road where another son was born in the same year. Vernon’s association with the Robertson Street Congregational Church predates his design of the church institute at Priory Street. Vernon and his wife were listed as members of the Robertson Street Congregational Church from 1870.

In 1880, Vernon opened an office in London at 26 Great George Street in Westminster. In 1882 he spent a year in Malta following medical advice concerning his asthma. He emigrated to Australia on medical advice in 1883 where he continued a successful career. He built up a large and successful practice in Sydney and was appointed State Architect in 1899.

Vernon was also active in the political sphere, being a staunch Liberal and sitting as a councillor for the St Mary Magdalen ward.

Children

Children of: Walter Liberty Vernon and Margaret Ann Jones (1848-1919)
Name	Birth	Death	Joined with
Margaret E. Vernon (1872-1946)  •
Olive Maud Vernon (1874-1925)  •
Hugh Venables Vernon(1877–1935)  •
Geoffrey Hampden Vernon (1882-1946)  •

Before he emigrated to Australia in September of 1883, he designed a number of prominent buildings around the town, and was instrumental in placing the White Rock Bandstand; his last project in the town was to secure the purchase by John Reeves of twenty acres of land at Bulverhythe for housing - the land having sufficient space for 500 houses - from the Papilon family. Whilst in Sydney, he took command of the Sydney Lancers, and returned with his troops in 1897 to take part in the Jubilee procession in London on the 22nd of June of that year

Designs

• Brassey Institute
• Gensing Gardens
• Robertson Street Church Institute
• 1-3 Warrior Gardens for George Geary of 74 Warrior Square (7 Jul 1876)
• 5-6 Warrior Gardens; Two houses for the Rev G Edmondson, 7 Church Road and E Plummer, G. Geary - builder (4 May 1877)
• 7-9 Warrior Gardens for A D Womersley (7 Jan 1876)

Notes

There is a single reference to Vernon at Trinity Street.