DERBYSHIRE, Richard Lionel (1883-1963), partner in the Toronto office of Derbyshire & Sangster in the period of 1931-33. Born in Rainham, Co. Essex, England on 6 February 1884, he worked as a building clerk in the London office of Ebenezer Gregg & Son in 1898-1900. During this period, he studied architectural drawing at the South Kensington School of Art. In 1900 he began a full apprenticeship in the office of Harrington & Ley, London, from 1900 to 1904, and completed studies in building construction at the West Ham Technical Institute.
Derbyshire emigrated in Canada in 1905, and was employed as draftsman for Canada Foundry Ornamental Iron Co. in Toronto (1905 to 1907), for King Construction Co., a fabricator of glass greenhouses (1908-13, and 1916-20), and for Kent McClain Ltd., designing retail stores and store layouts from 1923 onward. In 1928 he opened an office under his own name in Toronto, and in June 1930 he formed a partnership with William Sangster. He was an active member of the Church of Christ Scientist in Toronto, and he designed the Fourth and the Fifth Churches for that sect. Derbyshire later joined the Architectural Department of the University of Toronto where he was a staff architect from 1951 until late 1962. He died in Toronto on 9 January 1963 (obituary Telegram [Toronto], 10 Jan. 1963).
FOURTH CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST, Beech Avenue near Pine Avenue, a renovation of the existing Beech Avenue United Church, 1928; demol. c. 1975 (Globe [Toronto], 16 July 1928, 15, descrip.)
FIFTH CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST, Chatsworth Drive near Yonge Street, 1932 (Const., xxv, July 1932, 166, illus.)
COMPETITIONS
REGINA, SASK., WW1 War Memorial Cenotaph, Victoria Park, 1926. R.L. Deerbyshire was one of 51 architects and artists who submitted a design in this national competition (Morning Leader [Regina], 9 Feb. 1926, 1, full list of competitors). The winner was Robert G. Heughan of Montreal.