George Austin, Sr.
Duke of Marlborough's Foreman
Very little is known about George Austin, father of the first surveyor of Canterbury Cathedral. According to A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, he was a surveyor in Woodstock who was involved in the rebuilding of the tower of Woodstock Church in 1784.1 He also worked as the foreman for the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace, pictured above left in an 18th century engraving.2 As the duke's foreman, he may have supervised the construction of the current Woodstock town hall in 1766‑67.3
Footnotes
1Colvin, Howard Montague, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 3rd edition, London: Yale University Press, 1995, p. 80.
2Blenheim Palace: THE GREAT COURT AND NORTH FRONT: AN 18th century engraving, posted on Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blenheim_engraving.jpg, by Giano II, retrieved December 4, 2011.
3"Woodstock: Local government" in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock, 1990, pp. 372-400, on www.british-history.ac.uk, accessed November 4, 2005.
