MOBERLY, Walter (1832-1915) was known primarily for his work as a civil engineer and surveyor, but his training under Frederic Cumberland in Toronto undoubtedly qualified him to design and supervise the construction of buildings. Born in Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire, England on 15 August 1832 he was brought to Canada at the young age of ten years, educated in Barrie, Ont., and later attended Upper Canada College in Toronto. It was there that he was introduced to Cumberland, a railway engineer and a talented architect, and articled with him from 1851 until 1855, at first in the firm of Cumberland & Ridout, and later with Cumberland & Storm. With the encouragement of his mentor, Moberly submitted his own design in the competition for a new Market House, Guelph, Ont. (1856) and he received Second Premium.
Attracted by the Cariboo gold rush, he moved to British Columbia in 1858 to work in the Colonial Office of the Superintendent of Public Works, and in 1865 he was appointed Assistant Surveyor General there. In 1871 he assisted the Canadian Government with surveys of the Gold, Selkirk and Rocky Mountain ranges for a proposed trans-continental railway. By 1874 he was living in Winnipeg where he prepared plans for Winnipeg General Hospital (1875), and was active there as an architect, civil engineer and contractor (Daily Free Press [Winnipeg], 8 July 1875, 3, advert.). In 1876 he was partner in the firm of Moberly & McLennan, Architects & Contractors (Manitoba Directory, 1876-77), and he remained in Manitoba until 1883 or 1884.
Intrigued by the B.C. government call for entries in an architectural competition for a new Legislative Building in Victoria in 1891, he seemed undaunted by the complexities of the architectural programme, and submitted a design. His scheme, signed with the pseudonym 'Adversis major, par Secundus', was among 60 entries sent in by architects from Canada and the United States, but his scheme was not among the five finalists. Moberly retired in Vancouver after 1898 and died there on 14 May 1915 (obit. and port. Vancouver Sun, 15 May 1915, 4, with editorial; obit. Barrie Northern Advance, 20 May 1915, 1; biog. H. Morgan, Canadian Men & Women of the Time, 1898, 640-1; biog. & port. Province [Vancouver], 27 Sept. 1913, 20-1, biog. & port. E.O.S. Scholefield, British Columbia: From the Earliest Times to the Present, 1914, Vol. 3, 969-86; The Province [Vancouver], Saturday Magazine, 9 June 1956, 1-4)
WINNIPEG, MAN., Winnipeg General Hospital, William Avenue, 1875 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 24 Nov. 1875, 3, descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
GUELPH, ONT., Market House, 1856. Moberly was one of eighteen competitors who submitted designs, and for his effort he was awarded Second Prize of $50.00 (Tri-Weekly Advertiser [Guelph], 6 June 1856, 2). The winner of the competition was William Thomas of Toronto.
VICTORIA, B.C., British Columbia Legislative Building, 1892. Moberly was among 60 architects who submitted a design for this major government complex (M.Segger, The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, 1979, 84). He was not among the five finalists. The winner was F.M.Rattenbury.