Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/49

 Katharine Dock Co. Entering the schools of the Royal Academy in 1847, he graduated B.A. at London University in 1851, and began in 1853 an architectural tour which led to his acquaintance in Rome with [q. v.]. Mason introduced him to [q. v. Suppl. I]. Concluding the tour with [q. v.], he returned to London in 1855 and four years later was taken into partnership by his father, to whose practice and appointment he succeeded in 1861, becoming subsequently joint architect to the London and St. Katharine Docks Co. In 1865 Leighton, the friend of his lifetime, gave him the opportunity of designing his house and studio in Holland Road, South Kensington (now Leighton House), to which the Arab Hall was added at a later date. Aitchison's other principal works were the hall of the Founders Co. (1877); offices for the Royal Exchange Insurance Co., Pall Mall (1886); decorations for the apartments of the Princess Louise at Kensington Palace; and the board room for the Thames Conservancy (1868), with a frieze by Leighton. He was examiner in architecture and the principles of ornament at the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, and for many years district surveyor for East Wandsworth and Tooting. Aitchison was elected A.R.A. in 1881 and R.A. in 1898. He had already become professor of architecture to the Academy, a post which he resigned in 1905. From 1896 to 1899 he was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and during his presidency (1898) was awarded the royal gold medal. His work as an architect, always scholarly, is chiefly marked by his promotion of higher standards of internal decoration and by his collaboration with other artists in such work. He was a wide reader, a good talker, and the collector of an interesting library.

His numerous writings were mostly professional lectures, presidential addresses, or communications to architectural journals. He edited and wrote an introduction to Ward's 'Principles of Ornament' (1892), and was a contributor of several memoirs to this Dictionary, including those of Sir Charles Barry, Francis Hall, and George Homing Mason.

Aitchison resided and worked at 150 Harley Street, where he died, unmarried, on 16 May 1910. An excellent portrait by Sir L. Alma-Tadema, R.A., which was exhibited at the Academy in 1901, hangs in the room of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

 ALDENHAM, first. [See, 1819–1907.]

ALDERSON, HENRY JAMES (1834–1909), major-general, born at Quebec, Canada, on 22 May 1834, was son of Lieut.-colonel Ralph Carr Alderson, royal engineers, by his wife Maria, daughter of Henry Thorold of Cuxwold, Lincolnshire. (1757–1829) [q. v.] physician, of Sculcoates, Yorkshire, was his grandfather. Educated privately at Messrs. Stoton & Mayer's school at Wimbledon (1844–8), he entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, as a cadet, in May 1848. He received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 23 June 1852, and served in Canada until 1854, when, on promotion to the rank of lieutenant, he returned to England. Serving through the Crimean war, he was present at the battles of the Alma, Inkerman, and at the siege and fall of Sebastopol. He was mentioned in despatches, and received the medal with three clasps, the Turkish medal, and the legion d'honneur, third class. He was promoted to the rank of second captain on 1 April 1859 and from Feb. to June 1864 was attached on special mission to the headquarters of the federal army under General O. A. Gillmor during the civil war in the United States of America, and was present at the bombardment of Charleston.

On his return to England Alderson joined the experimental department of the school of gunnery, Shoeburyness, and became successively captain on 6 July 1867; major 3 July 1872; lieut.-colonel 1 Oct. 1877; colonel (by brevet) 1 Oct. 1881, and major-general 9 July 1892.

From 1871 he held various appointments in the department of the director of artillery at the war office, and in 1891 became president of the ordnance committee. This important office he held until his retirement from the army on 22 May 1896, on account of age. From 1897 until his death he was a director of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., the gunmaking firm at Elswick, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

He was made C.B. on 21 June 1887; a K.C.B. on 30 May 1891; and was appointed colonel commandant in the royal artillery on 4 Nov. 1905. He died at Durham on 10 Sept. 1909. He married in 1877 his second cousin, Florence, youngest daughter of (1787–1857) [q. v.],