Frederick Thatcher

Who was Frederick Thatcher?

Rev. Frederick Thatcher was an English and New Zealand architect and clergyman.

He was born at Hastings to a long-established Sussex family. He was one of the earliest associates of the Institute of British Architects, being admitted in 1836.

He emigrated to New Zealand in 1843, working in New Plymouth then Auckland. He entered St John’s College, Auckland to train for the ministry in 1848, and was ordained deacon the same year and priest in 1853.

He returned to England for health reasons in 1856. In the late 1850s, he designed Kinder House on Ayr Street. In 1861 he was appointed as vicar of St Paul’s Parish, Wellington. He designed the new St Paul’s Church, now Old Saint Paul's.

He returned to England in 1868, and retired in 1882. He was associated with Bishop Selwyn and the founding of Selwyn College, Cambridge. He died at Bakewell, Derbyshire, where his son Ernest Thatcher was curate, in 1890.

He designed many New Zealand churches, which were constructed of wood in the Gothic Revival style, as well as hospitals and schools. He was associated with Bishop Selwyn in planning several Selwyn churches in New Zealand.