George Wilkinson

George Wilkinson was a British architect who practised largely in Ireland.

He was born in Witney, Oxfordshire in 1814. His father was a carpenter and builder. His brother was an architect too.

In 1839 George Wilkinson was invited to Ireland as the Chief Architect of the Irish Poor Law Commissioners. He was responsible for the design and erection of all 130 Irish workhouses.

He was to be paid a salary of £500 per annum and provided with a full-time assistant and a clerk.

He held this position until 1855 when the Commissioners decided that they could no longer afford their own architect.

Wilkinson went on retirement with a pension of £300 per annum. 

He lived at Brunswick Street, in Dublin and returned to England in 1888 where he died in 1890 at Ryde House, Twickenham.

In Mayo, he designed the workhouses of Ballina, Swinford, Ballinrobe, Belmullet, Castlebar, Killala and Westport. They were built following his typical ‘Domestic Gothic’ layout.