Theodore Ridley Saunders – Architect and Civil Engineer – Part 1

Many locally well-known people are buried in our local churchyards and in the Cemetery in Upper Ventnor. One such grave (probably the largest plot in the whole of the cemetery) is that of Theodore Ridley Saunders, the architect of St. Margaret’s Church in Lowtherville Road, which opened in 1883.

Theodore was born in Bethnal Green, London in 1850 and came to Ventnor at the age of 22 and was articled to his brother R.J.H Saunders, later becoming partners until his brother’s death in 1883. Theodore took over the business and retired in 1917 after 45 years as an architect and civil engineer with an impressive portfolio of projects over some four and a half decades.

He married Marie Clara Margarete Spindler in 1889, daughter of Theodor Julius William Spindler of Berlin, Germany and Old Park, St. Lawrence and they had three sons: Julius William, born in 1890, Cyril Richard Theodore, born in 1894 and Victor Clare Lindon born in 1901.

Theodore was involved in numerous building and civil engineering projects all over the Island, including the Brading Harbour Railway (the branch from Brading to Bembridge, via St Helen’s), the Royal Spithead Hotel and the Isle of Wight (Newport Junction) Railway.

Read PDF version here: Theodore Ridley Saunders – Architect and Civil Engineer – Part 1