Subject

Architect-designer. Born Edward William Godwin in Bristol and moved to London about 1862. Widowed in 1865 he had an affair 1868-74 with Ellen Terry, married to, but separated from, G. F. Watts at the time. This led to him doing more theatrical design work. In 1876 he married a designer 24 years his junior, Beatrix (or Beatrice), the eldest daughter of John Philip.

From the Bedford Park panel: "Godwin was Carr’s first architect. He was a key member of the aesthetic movement with his designs of ebonised Japanese-style furniture and buildings that harked back to more rustic times chiming with the contemporary interest in pre-industrial crafts and medievalism. In 1875 Carr commissioned Godwin to design the first houses in Bedford Park, mainly in The Avenue. They set the style for the suburb, but architect and developer soon fell out, with the role of leading architect passing on to R. Norman Shaw."