Donald M. Stoddart
Architect; JHKM employee
Donald McKay Stoddart (1876–1930) was born in Glasgow, the third son of John Hastie Stoddart, editor of the Glasgow Herald newspaper from 1875 until his early death in 1888. 1
Stoddart was possibly introduced to the building profession as a career by his brother-in-law, Robert F. Clark, a Glasgow measurer, or quantity surveyor, with whom he was living in 1891. 2 It may have been through his late father's colleagues at the Glasgow Herald, whose fire-damaged offices were under repair by John Honeyman & Keppie, that Stoddart was articled to the practice in 1893.
During his apprenticeship, Stoddart attended the Glasgow School of Art, winning prizes in the National Competitions for art students in 1895 and 1897, the latter for designing 'a monument' and 'a small art department'. 3 On completing his training, Stoddart studied in Italy in 1898, and continued at the Glasgow School of Art until 1899. 4 That year he exhibited drawings from his Italian trip at the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, including a study of a fountain by della Robbia, 'a faithful and valuable study in colour', and 'sixth century mosaics from Ravenna'. 5
In early 1900, Stoddart became chief draughtsman to established Glasgow architect Alexander Nisbet Paterson, whose practice merged to become Campbell Douglas & Paterson in 1903. 6 Stoddart exhibited a repoussé copper panel at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art, Turin in 1902. 7 He was admitted Licentiate of the RIBA in July 1910, his proposers being Paterson, John Keppie, and Andrew Graham Henderson. 8
Stoddart enlisted as a private in the First World War, in the Royal Army Service Corps. 9 After the war, he returned to the practice, and by early 1920 he had become a partner; the firm's style changed to 'A. N. Paterson & Stoddart', to reflect this. 10
War memorials constituted a considerable portion of his output in the early 1920s, including those at Rhu and Shandon, and a commemorative lectern at Yarrow Kirk, which Paterson and Stoddart had restored in 1907 and 1923. 11 He also worked on the technically challenging Carnegie Aquarium in Edinburgh's Zoological Park in 1927. 12 Stoddart became a Fellow of the RIBA in 1925. He died in January 1930. 13
Notes:
1: Census information, www.ancestry.co.uk; Statutory Register, Births, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 8 March 2014].
2: Census information, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 8 March 2014].
3: Glasgow Herald, 26 August 1895, p. 6; Scotsman, 25 November 1897, p. 10.
4: 'Donald McKay Stoddart', Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk [accessed 10 November 2011].
5: Glasgow Herald, 3 April 1899, p. 8.
6: 'Donald McKay Stoddart', 'Alexander Nisbet Paterson', Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk [accessed 9 March 2014].
7: George Fuchs and F. H. Newbery Moderne Kunst, Die Austellung Turin 1902, Darmstadt: Alexander Koch, 1902, ill. p. 63 [as by J. H. McNair].
8: 'Donald McKay Stoddart', Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk [accessed 10 November 2011].
9: British Army W.W.I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914–1920, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 10 November 2011].
10: 'Donald McKay Stoddart', Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk [accessed 10 November 2011]; Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1920–1, p. 634.
11: 'Donald McKay Stoddart', Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk [accessed 10 November 2011]; Southern Reporter, 10 January 1924, p. 6; 18 December 1924, p. 7.
12: Scotsman, 7 July 1927, p. 12.
13: Glasgow Herald, 3 February 1930, p. 1; 'Donald McKay Stoddart', Dictionary of Scottish Architects, www.scottisharchitects.org.uk [accessed 10 November 2011].
