LAYCOCK, Rev. Edward Penard (1879-1972) lived and worked in Victoria, B.C. as Diocese Architect to the Anglican Church on Vancouver Island from 1907 to 1916, and from 1920 to 1933. Born at Barrow-in-Furness, Co. Lancashire, England on 20 September 1879, he articled in Plymouth, England with the firm of King & Lister (in 1898-1902), then moved to London to form a partnership with William H. James and Franklin J. Bellamy in 1903, where they specialized in the field of ecclesiastical architecture. In 1905 he became a registered member of the Royal Inst. of British Architects in London.
In 1906 he made a decision to emigrate to Canada as a lay missionary in the Nass River region of British Columbia, and was described as one “….who gave up a promising career as an ecclesiastical architect in London, England to do missionary work among the Nisga'a” (Vancouver Daily World, 22 Aug. 1908, 24).
He was persuaded to move to Canada after hearing Rev. J.B. McCullough, the famous missionary, speak about his work in the Nass. He went back to England in late 1908 and became an ordained minister, then returned to Canada in 1911. Laycock was appointed to St. Andrew’s, Sandwick, B.C. in 1913 and immediately began to put his skills as architect and cleric to work, designing more than 20 small churches throughout Vancouver Island and in the Gulf Islands. He was a remarkably skilled delineator and draftsman, thoroughly versed in the language of English ecclesiastical architecture, and adept at working within the contraints of a modest budget to create finely proportioned church buildings for the Anglican faith.
Laycock worked as rector in Vernon, B.C. in 1916-20, then returned to England in 1920-22, and was once again living and working in British Columbia as Archdeacon of Columbia from 1922 to 1933. After moving back to London, England in 1933 he served as vicar of St. James The Less, Westminster, and as vicar of St. Paul’s Church, Beckenham. He retired in 1949, and later died at Poole, near Bournemouth, England on 27 April 1972 (obit. and biography, Daily Colonist [Victoria], 20 May 1972, 21; biog. Crockford’s Clerical Directory, 1935, 783; biog. Royal Inst. of British Architects, Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. 2, p. 25). A photographic portrait of the architect is held at the Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, in Victoria, B.C., and that institution also holds a small collection of original architectural drawings by Laycock.
DENMAN ISLAND, B.C., St. Saviour’s Anglican Church, 1914 (inf. in obituary, Daily Colonist [Victoria], 20 May 1972, 21)
COURTENAY, B.C., St. John’s Anglican Church, 1914 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 61)
GRANTHAM, VANCOUVER ISLAND, B.C., St. Mary’s Anglican church, 1915, but the church structure was later moved to Merville, Vancouver Island (inf. in obituary, Daily Colonist [Victoria], 20 May 1972, 21)
QUATHIASKI COVE, QUADRA ISLAND, B.C., St. John’s Anglican Church, 1915 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 3)
MANSON’S LANDING, CORTES ISLAND, B.C., St. James Anglican Church, c. 1915 (inf. in obituary, Daily Colonist [Victoria], 20 May 1972, 21)
NELSON, B.C., Anglican Church, 1923 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 53)
COLWELL, B.C., vicarage for the Anglican Church, 1924 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 30)
TILLICUM, B.C., St. Martin-in-the-Fields Anglican Church, Obed Avenue, 1926 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 18)
ERRINGTON, B.C., Anglican Church, 1926 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 24)
VICTORIA, B.C, parish hall for St. Alban’s Anglican Church, Ryan Street, Oaklands, n.d. (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 8)
VICTORIA, B.C, Royal Oak Cemetery, Falaise Drive, commemorative Cross, 1928 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 63)
CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C., St. Peter’s Anglican Church, 1930 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 19)
VICTORIA, B.C., proposal to complete the full nave and chancel of Christ Church Cathedral, Quadra Street at Rockland Avenue, c. 1933, originally designed by J.C.M. Keith and built 1926-29 (drawings at Anglican Diosese of British Columbia Archives, Victoria, PDP 86)
VICTORIA, B.C., Christ Church Cathedral, new stained glass windows for the Cathedral, and the design of the new oak pulpit installed in 1955 (biography of E.P. Laycock in the Daily Colonist [Victoria], 20 May 1972, 21)