ELMES

elmes, james (1782-1862), british architect, civil engineer, and writer on the arts, was born in london on the 15th of october 1782. he was educated at merchant taylors' school, and, after studying building under his father, and architecture under george gibson, became a student at the royal academy, where he gained the silver medal in 1804. he designed a large number of buildings in the metropolis, and was surveyor and civil engineer to the port of london, but is best known as a writer on the arts. in 1809 he became vice-president of the royal architectural society, but this office, as well as that of surveyor of the port of london, he was compelled through partial loss of sight to resign in 1828. he died at greenwich on the 2nd of april 1862. his publications were:--_sir christopher wren and his times_ (1823); _lectures on architecture_ (1823); _the arts and artists_ (1825); _general and biographical dictionary of the fine arts_ (1826); _treatise on architectural jurisprudence_ (1827), and _thomas clarkson: a monograph_ (1854).