| Biographical Note | Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer KBE was a Scottish architect and the Commission’s Principal Architect for Italy, Macedonia and Egypt after the First World War.
Robert Stodart Lorimer was born on 4 November 1864. He was educated at Edinburgh University and trained in the office of Rowand Anderson before working as assistant to G.F. Bodley in London. In 1892, he began practice in Edinburgh, carrying out important country house and restoration work, including Thistle Chapel, St Giles’ Cathedral (1909-11). He was knighted in 1911.
Sir Robert Lorimer was appointed the Commission’s Principal Architect for Italy, Macedonia and Egypt on 21 September 1918. He designed 12 cemeteries in Italy, including Barenthal and Cavaletto as well as the Memorials to the Missing at Giavera and Savona. He designed 8 cemeteries in Macedonia, including Monastir Road, and the Doiran Memorial to the Missing, with Walter Gilbert, sculptor. In Egypt, Lorimer was responsible for the design of 8 cemeteries, including Chatby, Hadra (Alexandria) and Old Cairo. Sir Robert also designed 5 war cemeteries in Germany: Cologne, Hamburg, Worms, Cassel and Berlin.
In June 1921, Lorimer was appointed Principal Architect for the United Kingdom and designed the Naval Memorials at Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth.
He left the Commission on 31 December 1927.
Outside of his work with the Commission, Lorimer designed the Scottish National War Memorial, Edinburgh.
He died on 13 September 1929, aged 64. |