George Percy Bankart

Born 1866
Died 1929

Active: 1891 - 1917

Country of birth and death: England

Plaster modeller, metal worker, leadworker, architect, modeller

Born in Leicester, Leicestershire. His father, George Bankart (1831-1917 born in Bradford), was a merchant and insurance broker of Swiss descent. George Percy attended Wyggeston Grammar School and Leicester School of Art where he studied painting. In 1883 George was articled to the architect, Isaac Barradale (1845-92) where he met Ernest Gimson (1864-1919). Through Gimson, Bankart was introduced to William Morris and a number of other leading architects and craftsmen including Mervyn Macartney, Sydney Barnsley and W.R. Lethaby.

Bankart was appointed instructor in architecture and modelling at Leicester School of Art in 1897. He had already begun to develop an interest in leadwork and decorative plastering. During this period in Leicester, one of the projects he undertook was modelling two panels in Keene’s cement to Gimson’s design on the exterior of the White House in Clarendon Road, Leicester.

Around 1899 Bankart moved from Leicester to Bromsgrove. For the next seven years he worked at the Bromsgrove Guild with Henry Ludlow expanding the decorative plasterwork and lead shops. Among the commissions completed by Bankart at this time was plaster mouldings for the ceiling of the Great Hall, Royal Naval College, London (1903-04). In 1906 Bankart left the Guild and set up an independent practice in Baldwin's Gardens, Gray's Inn Road, London.

In 1910 it was reported that he had merged his business with the longstanding firm of Jackson's. The details were as follows: 'Messrs G Jackson of 49 Rathbone Place and Mr G Bankart of Baldwin’s Gardens, Gray’s Inn Road, EC. have recently arranged an amalgamation of their businesses. The respective workshops and offices will remain exactly as heretofore. Mr Bankart’s business being under his sole personal direction and control at Baldwin’s Gardens whilst his services as designer and adviser at 49 Rathbone Place are secured. In addition to modelled plasterwork, leadwork etc. they are conjointly undertaking decorative work in gesso, egg-tempera painting, and carving in wood and stone, and with the new financial arrangements, increased workshop accommodation and greater facilities, they will be able to carry out orders expeditiously, and at the same time to do the best possible work.’ (The Architects' and Builders' Journal, vol 32, no 807, 20 July 1910, ‘Trade and Craft’ p. 82)

He published a number of books on decorative plastering: 'The Art of the Plasterer: an account of the decorative development of the craft', Batsford, London, 1908, 'Modern plasterwork construction, casting and fixing; fibrous, solid, and reinforced', The Architectural Press, London, 1926, 'Modern plasterwork design', The Architectural Press, London, 1927 (both titles with his son George E. Bankart) and was co-author of the fourth edition of William Millar's 'Plastering Plain and Decorative' Batsford, London, 1927. Bankart died in London between April and June.

This entry includes information from 'Mr George P. Bankart and his work', Grey Wornum, The Architect's Journal, 12 October 1927. There is also information about Bankart and his connection to Leicester and Ernest Gimson at http://gimson.leicester.gov.uk/leicesterdesigners/george-bankart/ (accessed 28 August 2011)

Citing this record

'George Percy Bankart', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1206485096, accessed 08 Jun 2023]