R.G. Bunyard, 1884 - 1973

Born in Maidstone, Kent, UK, Richard Geoffrey Bunyard was educated at Eastbourne College and apronticed with a firm in London. In 1902 he emigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, finding employment by the prominent Winnipeg architect Henry S. Griffith as a draftsman and clerk. It was there that he likely met Francis L. Jones.

 In March 1906, Bunyard opened an office in partnership with Jones in Moose Jaw. Their business prospered, but for unknown reasons Jones departed for California in 1908 and Bunyard continued to practise under his own name for the next two decades, gaining a reputation for his Beaux-Arts designs for institutional, commercial and residential projects. More than half of the schools built in Moose Jaw between 1908 and 1929 were built from his plans.

In 1929 Bunyard moved to British Columbia and married Gertrude Harriet Blanchard at Oak Bay, Victoria, BC, on March 23, 1929. He began serious study in drawing and painting at the British Columbia College of Arts in Vancouver under college founders and Group of Seven members Frederick Varley and Jock McDonald.

He was a long-time member of the B.C. Society of Fine Arts, first listed as a member in the 1938 annual exhibition catalogue.

He exhibited with the B.C. Society of Fine Arts in their 39th Annual Exhibition in 1949.

Bunyard retired in 1951 and continued to paint until his passing.

Bunyard died in North Saanich on June 6, 1973 at the age of 89.

Memberships
Saskatchewan Assoc. of Architects, founding member,  1909
President  1917-18 and again in 1923-24.
B.C. Society of Fine Arts, 1949

Selected Collections
The Feckless Collection, Vancouver, BC