| Administrative History | William Kelly was born in Aberdeen on the 22nd December 1861, to Francis Bonnyman Kelly, a tailor, and his wife Jane Tough. After schooling at William Rattray's school, Kelly studied maths and natural philosophy at King's College (1876 - 1878). He was articled to the local firm of William and John Smith and when his period of articles was finished in 1883, he moved to London. His career in London is relatively undocumented; in 1886, he returned to Aberdeen, setting up an independent practice on Belmont Street. A year later, he entered into partnership with William Smith but this partnership was dissolved in the early 1890s and in 1893, he married Mary Carmichael, thus becoming the brother-in-law of Aberdeen architects Charles and Duncan Carmichael. Kelly won a prestigious commission to be the architect of Aberdeen Savings Bank on Union Terrace in 1896. He was elected ARSA in 1911 and was awarded the LLD by Aberdeen University in 1919, in recognition of his work at King's College Chapel. He also held the newly created post of Aberdeen Corporation Director of Housing from 1918-1923. One of his most popular architectural works was his design of the leopards on Union Bridge, known as 'Kelly's Cats'. After his retirement in 1928, he maintained a consultancy role for landed clients and pursued his lifelong antiquarian interests by assisting with the publications of his historian friend, Dr W Douglas Simpson. He died on the 10th March 1944.
See - Dr W Douglas Simpson, 'A tribute offered by the University of Aberdeen to the memory of William Kelly, LL.D, A.R.S.A' (Aberdeen University Press: 1949). |
| Description | Collection of letters and papers relating to John Smith, senior and junior, William Smith, Archibald Simpson and William Kelly, architects. Also included are three tracings for the plinth of a statue to be placed in the neighbourhood of Union Bridge and Diamond Street, Aberdeen, and a genealogical tree and notes regarding the family of John Smith. |