Professional life

Essex was the son of a builder who had fitted the sash window

Sash window

A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...

s and wainscot in the Senate House

Senate House (University of Cambridge)

The Senate House of the University of Cambridge is now used mainly for degree ceremonies. It was formerly also used for meetings of the Council of the Senate...

 (1724-5), under James Gibbs

James Gibbs

James Gibbs was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Scotland, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England...

; and also worked on the hall of Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

 (1732-4). He died in February 1749.

James Essex the younger was born in Cambridge in August 1722. He had a grammar

Grammar school

A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

 education at the school of King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

, and studied under Sir James Burrough

James Burrough (architect)

Sir James Burrough was an English academic, antiquary, and amateur architect.-Biography:The son of James Burrough, M.D., of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, he was born on 1 September 1691. Educated at the grammar school at Bury for eight years, he entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1708....

. On his father's death Essex took up his business, and in September 1749 built the Mathematical Bridge

Mathematical Bridge

The Mathematical Bridge is the popular name of a wooden footbridge across the River Cam, between two parts of Queens' College, Cambridge. Its official name is simply the Wooden Bridge....

 at Queens' College.

Cambridge colleges

In the next 25 years he was occupied with work for Cambridge colleges. In 1751 he fitted up the 'dome room' at the library for manuscripts; in 1754 he rebuilt the Magdalene Street Bridge; in 1757 he designed and built the Ramsden building at St. Catharine's College; and in 1758 he repaired and altered Nevile's Court of Trinity College

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. In 1760 he designed and built the new west range at Queens' College; in 1764 he repaired and altered the hall at Emmanuel College

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

; in 1766 he designed and built the stone bridge at Trinity College; in 1768 he completed the west end of the Senate House, left unfinished by Gibbs. In 1769 he ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

ed the quadrangle of Christ's College

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

 and completed the chapel at Clare College

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...

 after the death of Burrough. In 1775 he rebuilt the combination-room of Trinity College, and designed and built the west front of Emmanuel College; in 1776 he designed and set up the altarpiece at King's College, with the wainscot round the sacrarium, and altered the south side of the first court of St John's College

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

; between 1778 and 1782 he made the bookcases for the library, and designed and built the chapel at Sidney Sussex College; and in 1784 he designed and built the old Cambridge Guildhall

Cambridge Guildhall

Cambridge Guildhall is a listed building designed in 1939 by Charles Cowles-Voysey in the centre of the historic city of Cambridge, England. It includes two halls, The Large Hall and The Small Hall, and is used for many disparate events such as comedy acts, conferences, craft fairs, live music,...

.
In the transformation of older structures which Essex was instructed to carry out, as well as in his original works (except the altarpiece at King's College), he adopted the Italianate style of the day, which he had learnt from Burrough; but he was an admirer of the then despised Gothic style, and was a pioneer professional architect in imitations of old English architecture.

Works on churches

Essex was consulted by the dean and chapter of Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

 in 1757. In the course of the following five years he restored the east front to the perpendicular, and repaired the roof of the eastern limb of the church, together with the woodwork of the lantern, which neglect had brought into a dangerous condition. Finally, he removed the choir from its original position to the east end of the presbytery (work not completed until 1770). The repairs executed between 1757 and 1762 were carried out conservatively, the old timber being, where possible, preserved; but Essex recommended the destruction of the west porch, as "neither ornamental nor useful".

In 1760 he built the doctors' gallery in Great St. Mary's Church (Burrough, architect). In 1761 he accepted another major commission, at Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln in England and seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years . The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt...

, where substantial repairs were needed. Besides these he constructed an arch under the west tower, repaved the entire church, repaired the choir screen, and designed an altarpiece and bishop's throne. These works still remain. Here, also, Essex tried to get the choir removed to the same position as at Ely, but without success. In 1775 he designed and put up the four spires and battlement of the central tower.
Essex also restored the tower of Winchester College Chapel, altered Madingley Hall, Cambridge, built the steeple of the parish church at Debden

Debden

Debden could mean:* Debden, Epping Forest, England** Debden House, adult education college** Debden tube station* Debden, Uttlesford, England** RAF Debden* Debden, Saskatchewan, Canada...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, and the cross to commemorate Queen Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...

 erected at Ampthill, Bedfordshire in 1773 by the Earl of Ossory

Earl of Ossory

Earl of Ossory is a subsidiary title held by the Earl of Ormond that was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1528.In 1525, King Henry VIII of England became enamoured of Anne Boleyn and began pursuing her. As Henry's infatuation for Anne intensified, so did her father's titles...

. In building this cross Essex followed a rough sketch by Horace Walpole.

Death

Essex died in Cambridge of a paralytic stroke on 14 September 1784, in his sixty-third year. He was buried in St. Botolph's churchyard, Cambridge, on the south side of the church, where a tomb commemorates him, his father, mother, wife, and children. He and his children are further commemorated by a tablet in the north aisle.

Associations and reputation

He was the intimate friend of Michael Tyson, Thomas Kerrich

Thomas Kerrich

Thomas Kerrich was a clergyman, principal Cambridge University librarian , antiquary, draughtsman and gifted amateur artist. He created one of the first catalogue raisonnés ....

, Richard Gough

Richard Gough (antiquarian)

Richard Gough was an English antiquarian.He was born in London, where his father was a wealthy M.P. and director of the British East India Company. In 1751 he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he began his work on British topography, published in 1768...

, James Bentham

James Bentham

James Bentham was an English clergyman and historian of Ely.-Life:From a clerical family, he was the fourth son of the Rev. Samuel Bentham, vicar of Witchford near Ely, and brother of Edward Bentham. From Ely grammar school, he was admitted 26 March 1727 to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he...

, William Cole (whose house at Milton, Cambridge he built, and who made him his executor), Horace Walpole, Burrough, and other well-known antiquaries. He was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 23 January 1772, through Gough, and contributed papers to Archæologia on architectural history. In 1756 he issued proposals for engraving views, plans, and sections of King's College Chapel; the scheme of this work, with plates drawn by his own hand, was among the manuscripts which after his death passed to Thomas Kerrich, who bequeathed to the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

. The same collection contains the manuscript and many of the illustrations for an unfinished history of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture.

In 1748, when Essex was a young man of twenty-six, he became involved in a controversy with the Rev. R. Masters, fellow and historian of Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College can refer to the following colleges:*Corpus Christi College, Cambridge*Corpus Christi College, Oxford*Corpus Christi College *Corpus Christi College, Melbourne...

, over the authorship of a plan for adding a new court to the college. In December 1747 Masters had employed Essex to draw a plan, which he then had engraved and circulated as his own. Essex published proposals for engraving and printing by subscription his own design, and (February 1749) published a pamphlet, in which he criticised Masters's design and conduct.

Works

The works which Essex acknowledged are the following:

• "Proposals for Engraving and Printing a Plan of an intended Addition to Corpus Christi College,Cambridge", 20 September 1748.
• "Whereas Mr. Masters ...", 4 October 1748. — An advertisement.
• "Mr. James Essex's Letter to his Subscribers to the Plan", &c., 20 February 1748-9.
• "Proposals for Engraving Views, Plans, and Sections of King's College Chapel", 1 October 1756 (Gough, Brit. Top. i. 237).
• "Letter to Dr. Ducarel, containing observations on Canterbury Cathedral", 1 February 1768 (Nichols, Bibliographia Topographica Britannia i. 470).
• "Plan of the original Cathedral Church of Ely, with an account of the several Alterations and Additions" (Bentham, Ely, 1812, addenda, pp. 1–8).
• "Account of the Old Conventual Church at Ely" (Bentham, Ely, 1812, addenda, pp. 9, 10).
• "Remarks on the Antiquity and the different Modes of Brick and Stone Buildings in England" (Archæologia, iv. 73).
• "Observations on Lincoln Cathedral" (Archæologia iv. 149).
• "Observations on the Origin and Antiquity of Round Churches, and of the Round Church at Cambridge in particular" (Archæologia vi. 163).
• "Observations on Croyland Abbey and Bridge" (Nichols, ichols, Bibliographia Topographica Britannia No. xxii.)
• "Description and Plan of the Ancient Timber Bridge at Rochester" (Archæologia, vii. 395).
• "Description and Plan of Denny Abbey, Cambs." (Lysons, Cambridgeshire, pp. 272–4).

Besides these, his description of the old chapel of Sidney Sussex College, and his "Journal of a Tour through part of Flanders and France in August 1773", have been printed since his death in the Architectural History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge, by the Rev. R. Willis and J. W. Clark, and the Cambr. Antiq. Soc. Octavo Publ. No. xxiv. respectively.

The name of Essex is also connected with six engraved designs:

• "This east prospect of King's College in Cambridge, as intended to be finish'd, is humbly inscrib'd to the worshipful Andrew Snape, D.D., Provost . . .by ... Jam. Essex, junr, Jams Gibbs, Arch. Jams Essex junr Delin., 1741. P. Fourdrinier Sculp." — A birdseye view of the quadrangle of King's College, Cambridge, to explain a scheme for laying out the court and gardens, on the supposition that the three buildings designed by Gibbs were completed.
• "Aulæ Sanctæ Trinitatis Cantab: ab Occidente. The West Front of Trinity Hall in Cambridge. Jac. Burrough Arch. 1743. Jac. Essex, junr, delineavit, W. H. Toms Sculp." — A view of Burrough's design for a new court at Trinity Hall.
• "The Plan and Elevation of an intended Addition to Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. Designed by James Essex, junior. Jacs Essex, junr Delineavit, 1748. W.H.Toms Sculp."
• "A Design for the Publick Library at Cambridge, made by the late Sr James Burrough in the Year 1752".
• "Elevation of the New Front design'd for Emanuel College, Cambridge. Jac. Essex desigt et del. P. S. Lamborn sculp."
• "The West Prospect of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Jacs Essex desigt et delt 1773. Major sculpt".

Family

Essex married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Thurlbourne, bookseller, of Cambridge, by whom he had two children—James, who died an infant in 1757, and Millicent, who married, 10 May 1785, the Rev. John Hammond, sometime fellow of Queens' College. She died in January 1787.