OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
www.oldplymouth.uk
 

WHO WAS WHO IN OLD PLYMOUTH

JAMES HINE (1829-1914)

The architect James Hine was born at Ilminster, Somerset, on June 1st 1829 to the Reverend Thomas Collins Hine and his wife, Mary (formerly Hendeburgh).  James was baptised on March 14th 1830 at the Zion Independent Chapel at Ilminster.

Thomas and Mary had moved to Plymouth by 1851, when he was the minister at the Union Independent Chapel.  At that time James was not living at home but there was a younger brother, William.

James worked both on his own and in partnership, at first with Mr Alfred Norman, and later with Mr Odgers.  He was responsible for the designs of many public buildings in Plymouth and beyond, including Plymouth Guildhall, the Municipal Offices, Bodmin Asylum, the churches of All Saints', Saint Matthias' and Saint Jude's, the Wesleyan Chapel at Ivybridge and the Blackadon Asylum (later known as Moorhaven) at Bittaford.  The partnerships were also the architects for the Plymouth School Board and designed the Palace Court and North Road Board Schools as well as other educational establishments in Devonport.  He carried put a partial restoration of Saint Andrew's Church a few years before Sir Gilbert Scott made a much larger one.  He also carried out work in Launceston, Cornwall.

Mr Hine as a founder member of the Devonshire Association when it started in 1862 and became its President in 1897.  At the time of his death he was the last of the founder members.  Such was the esteem in which the Association held him, that the only occasion in the history of the Association that it met outside of its home County was when it held its annual meeting at Launceston when he was too ill to travel. 

He was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and for many years a leading figure in the Plymouth Institution.

At the time of the 1881 census, he was living at 23 Mulgrave Street, Plymouth, and had two female servants, both from Saint German's in Cornwall.   Although he did not declare himself to be a widow, his wife was not at home on census night.

When he retired he moved to Roydon House, Saint Stephen's-by-Launceston, where he died at the age of 84 on the evening of Sunday February 15th 1914.  His only relatives, Doctor T W and Mrs Shepheard lived close by.   James Hine is, however, buried in the Plymouth Cemetery.