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'''Henry Couchman''' (8 January 1737 – 21 January 1803) was an English architect and landscape gardener. He designed the Old Drapers' Hall, Coventry (now demolished)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tales from the Archive: Draper's Hall - A Building through Time - The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum |url=https://www.theherbert.org/news/158/tales_from_the_archive_drapers_hall__a_building_through_time |access-date=4 September 2024 |website=www.theherbert.org}}</ref> and the House of Correction in Warwick.<ref>{{cite web |title=Warwick House of Correction (or Bridewell) |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/house-correction-bridewell |access-date=4 September 2024 |website=Our Warwickshire |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The borough of Warwick: Economic and social history, 1545-1835 {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol8/pp504-514 |access-date=4 September 2024 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> He helped complete Arbury Hall, Warwickshire, for Sir Roger Newdigate, including designing the magnificent saloon.<ref>{{NHLE |desc=ARBURY HALL |num=1185222 |access-date=5 September 2024 }}</ref>
==Biography== Henry Couchman was born in Ightham, Kent. He was the eldest child of carpenter Henry Couchman and Sarah (''née'' Luck). He was locally schooled.<ref name="autobiography">Henry Couchman brief autobiography (original manuscript in the Warwickshire Records Office)</ref>
Initially, he worked for his father, cutting timber and repairing buildings. Rather than continue in the carpentry trade Henry obtained a job in Greenhithe making drawings for a house builder. He then found work with a London builder. He later lost his job "in consequence of belonging to a club of workers in a plan to raise their wages".<ref name=autobiography />
Couchman eventually found work with a builder in Piccadilly. He became foreman of the woodwork, working on projects for Lord March (later Duke of Queensbury). He then moved to work for several years building Packington Hall, Warwickshire for the Lord Aylesford, arriving in 1766.<ref name=autobiography /> While living in Warwickshire, he was also employed as County Bridgemaster where he designed Barford bridge (1792-1795), Ryton bridge (1786-1787) and Wixford bridge (1800-1801).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Skempton |first=Alec W. |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500-1830. |date=2002 |publisher=Thomas Telford |volume=1 |via=Google Books.}}</ref> He served on the committees of two canal companies, the Warwick & Birmingham Canal Company and the Warwick & Napton Canal Company.<ref name=":0" />
He married Susanna Barnes in London in 1764.<ref>''Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1935''</ref> Their daughter Susanna married Thomas Wedge of Chester.
He died in 1803.<ref>{{cite news |title=Died. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002593/18030122/024/0004 |work=General Evening Post |date=22 January 1803 |page=4 |url-access=subscription |access-date=29 June 2023 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Couchman, Henry}} Category:Architects from Warwickshire Category:18th-century English architects Category:1737 births Category:1803 deaths Category:People from Ightham