Robert Jewell Withers
Robert Jewell Withers was an English architect who specialized in church buildings. He was born on 2 February 1824 in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England, to John Alexander Withers and Maria Jewell. His brother Frederick Clarke Withers also became an architect and worked in America.
Withers began his training in 1839, apprenticed to Thomas Hellyer in Ryde, Isle of Wight, who focused on church work. After a tour of England and the Continent in 1844, he returned to Sherborne and set up his practice in 1848. He became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1849 and moved to London the following year. He opened his own office in 1854 and, from 1855 to 1859, was based on Doughty Street in Holborn before working from premises in the Adelphi near the Strand. He became a full member of RIBA in 1873.
His notable works include St Mary's, Bourne Street, the restoration of St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, and the 1871 restoration of James Gibbs’s St Mary-le-Strand, where his benches and tiled floor remain.
Withers married Catherine Mary Vaux on 20 April 1854 in Croydon. They had four sons and five daughters. He also served as an organist at St John’s Church, Kennington. Robert Jewell Withers died on 7 October 1894 in London, aged 70.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:59 (CET).