Rickman, Thomas

Rickman, Thomas, a distinguished English architect, was born at Maidenhead in 1776. Although unsettled in early life, he seems always to have had a love for architecture, and to have studied it carefully. In 1808 he began to give his full attention to it, and wrote the Classification of Gothic Styles, which has rendered him famous. He afterwards resided in Birmingham, and acquired great celebrity by his Gothic churches and other structures. He died in March, 1841. He is well known as an author by his Gothic Architecture, an Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture in England, etc. (Lond. 1817, 8vo). There is a later and better edition by Parker (Oxford, 1862, 8vo). See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.