Explore: John Buckler

(1770 - 1851)

John Buckler was born on the Isle of Wight. In 1785 he became a steward of Magdalen College, Oxford. For seven years he was also apprenticed to architect and surveyor Charles Thomas Cracklow. In about 1801 he became Bailiff and Collector of Rents for Magdalen College in Freemason’s Court and Southwark. His post with Magdalen allowed him spare time, which he spent working on his own architectural perspective drawings. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1796 to 1849. In 1799, Buckler published an engraving of one of his drawings of Lincoln Cathedral. For the next five years he made a series of views of English cathedrals and churches. By the end of his career, he had produced some 13,000 architectural perspective drawings.