Charles Barker Howdill

Howdill studied at the Leeds College of Art, winning a series of national prizes for his drawings and designs during his twenties. These included a coveted National Gold Medal for his design of a post office - the first Leeds student to win this distinction. After serving for a time as Assistant Architect to the Leeds Schools Board, he was made an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1892. Howdill later joined his father Thomas Howdill's architecture practice and together the father-and-son team designed dozens of Primitive Methodist chapels all over the country, as well as numerous secular buildings, including mills and even a cinema. Notable projects included the striking Branch Road Primitive Methodist Chapel in Armley, now a Grade II listed building which has been re-purposed as a carpet showroom, as well as the Beckworth Tannery in Kirkstall. But after 1910 there were no new chapel commissions: Primitive Methodism began a slow decline, and the Howdills diversified their activities. The Howdill and Howdill architectural practice is the subject of an authoritative book chapter by Leeds historian Colin Dews.

After the Great War Howdill travelled less, and earned his living mainly by teaching building-related subjects at Huddersfield Technical College and other vocational institutions in the West Riding. He served as organist of the Rehoboth Primitive Methodist Chapel for over 50 years until his death in 1941. In 1993, Howdill's daughter Madge donated more than 800 of his glass slides and a quantity of notebooks and papers to Leeds Museums and Galleries. Twenty-five years later this archive was rediscovered by local historian Janet Douglas (historian) and University of Leeds professor Duncan McCargo, who created a small exhibition and website to commemorate Howdill's legacy. In October 2018, Leeds Civic Trust installed a blue plaque on Howdill's former house in Hanover Square. • Illustration — Howdill archives at Leeds Museums

An Armistice flag made by Madge Howdill and carried around Hanover Square on 11 November 1918 by the Howdills captured the public imagination during the centenary of the Armistice in 2018, when it was once more paraded around the Square and then presented to Leeds Museums. The large flag had been left in the attic of the former Howdill residence for a century. As part of an outreach project commissioned by Leeds Museums and led by Agnis Smallwood, 17 community groups in Leeds made their own full-sized versions of Madge's flag, depicting their hopes and ideas of peace. These were all displayed at Leeds City Museum in November 2018.