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William Grey, clergyman, architect (born 27 October 1819 in England; died 1 September 1872 in Exeter, England). If Edward Feild, Bishop of Newfoundland, is to be credited with imposing the architecture of the Gothic revival on Newfoundland, then William Grey must be seen as his principal assistant and architect. His own design work and the architectural training he gave his students ensured the educated use of the Gothic revival for Anglican churches throughout Newfoundland.
Education and Direction of Queen’s College
William Grey, educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, first came to Newfoundland as secretary and chaplain to Edward Feild in 1848.
Grey had wanted to become a missionary on the Labrador, but Feild persuaded him that he was needed to run Queen's, the Anglican theological college in St John's. There, along with their theological training, the divinity students were given a thorough grounding in the principles of medieval church architecture so that they could design their own churches in the fashion deemed proper by the ecclesiologists — without galleries and with Gothic details and exposed framework.
Architectural Work in Newfoundland and Labrador
William Grey believed that the most practical approach to church architecture in Newfoundland was to use local materials and rely on the local clergy, as long as they were properly trained. Grey designed or remodelled 11 churches in Newfoundland and Labrador, of which only one still stands, that at Battle Harbour (1857).
The illness of his wife obliged him to return to England in 1853, but he spent the summer of 1857 in Newfoundland. After this last visit he published a collection of his sketches, many of which show his church designs. Until 1865 he served the parish of Milford, Whitley, and then retired to live in Exeter, where he died.
