George Henderson

Geelong Architect

George Henderson was born in Edinburgh on 3 October 1846, the son of John Henderson and Hannah Matilda Exley. He was enrolled in the Royal High School in Edinburgh from 1858 to 1861 and then trained with his father until his death in June 1862, completing his apprenticeship with David Cousin who took over at least one of his father's commissions. He left to emigrate to Australia, arriving in May 1867 and joining the office of his former fellow assistant in his father's office, Alexander Davidson in Rokewood, Victoria. At first he acted as an unpaid associate to Davidson, though before long both Henderson and Davidson were able to send money home to assist their respective families, a number of large commissions coming their way in late 1868 and in early 1869 when the practice moved to Geelong in Victoria. A partnership was formalised in late 1869, with Davidson receiving 2/3 of the profit and the younger partner 1/3. In early 1870 the partners won the important commission of Geelong College in Newtown and in line with stylistic developments in Britain used for the first time 'constructional polychromy'. A venture in the field of speculative building in Geelong was however not a success and a series of unfortunate episodes of losing jobs to other architects and disputes with contractors (relating to a clause written by the practice in their terms of agreement about their right to be the sole judge of quality without arbitration) caused them financial difficulties. Moreover in the early 1870s there was a short depression in the wool industry and some sources of work temporarily dried up.

The first partnership ended in December 1873. Although a new one was formalised in July 1874 with Davidson now receiving 5/9 of the profits, by this time Henderson, who had lived with Davidson and his wife since his arrival in Australia, found this arrangement a strain. Moreover he was becoming disillusioned with the work. Henderson largely fulfilled the role of office manager and was responsible for the costing of the jobs. It is unclear how much hand he had in design work. Only occasionally did he make site visits. In December 1875 he received an offer of work from William Hay, a former assistant of his father's who had returned to Edinburgh after a very successful; career in Toronto and the Davidson-Henderson partnership was terminated on less than friendly terms in April 1876, Henderson sailing home later that year. A partnership with Hay officially began in the following year. Like his father's it attracted both episcopal and presbyterian clients.

Henderson continued the practice after Hay's death in May 1888. He married Mary Elizabeth Leith Malcolm in 1897 and had two daughters, Elizabeth Stella and Amy Louise Huntly. He died on 24 March 1905 at 25 Hermitage Gardens and was buried at Grange. His office was then at 12 Queen Street.