Charles Harrison Townsend

1851-1928

English architect and designer. He was educated at Birkenhead School as well as under the tutelage of the Liverpool architect Walter Scott in 1870. He moved to London in 1880. In 1888 he was elected a Fellow of the RIBA and a member of the Art Workers’ Guild. Townsend was one of the most original British Arts and Crafts architects. He used large plant motifs to decorate many of his key buildings. His masterpiece is probably the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Great Warley, Essex, with a complete Arts-and-Crafts and Art Nouveau interior.

Omar’ is one of Charles Harrison Townsend’s few large-scale designs for textiles. ( V&A Museum, London)

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Textile design entitled 'Omar' by V&A