William John Waterman Roome

William John Waterman Roome
File:Roome, William John Waterman.jpg
Born	1865
Died	1937
Residence	Greenisland, Belfast [A63] PO Box 145, Kampala, Uganda [1927] Kivu, Cecil Road, Swanage, Dorset [1929] Tinamara, Langton Maltravers, Dorset [1931]
Occupation	church literary architect
Society Membership membership ordinary fellow left 1935 last listed elected_AI 1926.07.13 societies Architectural Association British and Foreign Bible Society Society of Architects Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland

Notes

House Notes

1926.07.13 nominated and elected forthwith; proposed by E.W. Smith, seconded by H.J.E. Peake

Notes From Elsewhere

Architect and missionary, of Belfast. William Roome was born in Birmingham on 16 April 1865, the son of the Rev. W.J.B. Roome. He was educated at Mill Hill School, Hendon, before being articled to Thomas Wonnacutt of Farnham, Surrey, from 1884 to 1887. He also studied at the Royal Academy Schools, where he won a scholarship, and at the Architectural Association. He set up in independent practice in Maidenhead and London in 1890 and in 1895 he moved to Belfast,(1) where he entered into a short-lived partnership with HERBERT SYKES.& nbsp; From 1897 he practised on his own in Belfast. A man of strongly-held Christian convictions, his works reflect his involvement in philanthropic and improving projects. He designed several buildings for the Belfast developer and philanthropist A.W. Vance, and was secretary to Vance's Homes of Rest organization. He also designed a number of Soldiers' Homes in Ireland for Elise Sandes (1851-1934); these buildings, which were attached to barracks in Ireland, England and India, were intended to provide soldiers with opportunities for self-improvement and harmless recreation. Other commissions included a church, a large mission hall, several private houses and some industrial and commercial buildings; according to the Irish Builder, it was Roome who introduced the Hennebique system of ferro-concrete construction into the north of Ireland.(2)

In 1911 Roome formed a partnership with ROBERT STEVEN BOAG . He may have felt it necessary to do so because of his increasing interest in missionary work abroad, for it was in this year that he first went to Africa to visit missionary stations in the Sudan. In 1914 he gave up his architectural practice to make a second visit to Africa and in 1916 joined the staff of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which appointed him its agent in Kampala. During the following years he travelled vast distances in Africa on foot and by bicycle, collecting ethnographic material in addition to his missionary activities. According to his entry in Who's Who in Architecture for 1923, he designed some buildings in Africa in connection with his work. In 1928 he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, placing a bible just below the summit as a symbol of the pre-eminence of the Christian message for Africa. The following year he retired to Swanage in Dorset, where he spent his time writing books about his African experiences. He died on 31 March 1937 at Tangier, where he had gone to recuperate from illness brought on by overwork, though his family believed that his true desire was to lay his bones in African soil. He had married Grace, eldest daughter of Isaac J. Swan, a shipowner in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1901. There were two sons and three daughters of the marriage.

Roome's pupils and assistants included ALBERT J. CLARKE.

RIAI: elected member, 20 April 1903, proposed by WILLIAM JOHN GILLILAND , seconded by WILLIAM JOHN& nbsp; FENNELL and NICHOLAS FITZSIMONS  ;(3) ceased membership, 1918;(4) reinstated, 1919;(5) resigned, 1930.(6)
Society of Architects: elected member, 1894.(7)

Addresses:(8) Whitehall Buildings, Ann Street, Belfast, 1896;(9) Kingscourt, Wellington Place, Belfast, 1901ca->=1918.
Home: Meroc, Greenisland, Co. Antrim, 1902c-1928; Kur, Cecil Road, Swanage, Dorset, 1929 until death.

1899 – Homes of Rest, Bangor, Co. Down. Architect: William Roome“The Rest for Girls” at Bangor. Mr. William J.W. Roome, M.S.A., is the architect.
1901 – Kingscourt, Wellington Place, Belfast, Co. Antrim. Architect: William Roome
1898 – Shankill Road Mission, Belfast, Co. Antrim. Architect: William Roome

The former Shankill Road Mission Hall (also known as Albert Hall) was designed by William J. W. Roome for Rev. Henry Montgomery. The building was built by McLaughlin & Harvey at a cost of c.£13-14,000 between 1897 – 1898.

Publications

External Publications

Apolo: The apostle to the Pygmies

Ethiopia the valiant. 1936

Wanderings in the Sudan - A Historical Article on a Traveller's Experience in Africa

A Traveller in the Congo - A Historical Sketch of a Traveller's Experience in Africa

A Traveller in Uganda - A Historical Article on a Traveller's Experience in Africa

A Traveller in Tanzania - A Historical Account of an Ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro and Travels in the Surrounding Area

Tramping Through Africa - A Dozen Crossings of the Continent

Blessed Be Egypt: A Missionary Story; Being Some Account of Present Missionary Effort in Egypt, and the Story of the Lord's Leading of the Egypt Mission Band

Through the lands of Nyanza : Central Africa1930

Through Central Africa for the Bible1929

Aggrey, the African teacher1936

The three Freds: martyred pioneers for Christ in Brazil1937

Can Africa be won? By W. J. W. Roome ... with an introduction by Rt. Rev. J. J. Willis ... bishop of Uganda