Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, UK, to a family involved in the local cotton industry (his father was a mill clerk and his mother a weaver), Austin Winkley was educated at a Salesian school before winning a scholarship to study at the Architectural Association (AA). He entered the school in 1953, progressing successfully through the five-year Diploma Course. As part of his final year’s studies, in 1957-58, he elected to take the AA’s six-month Department of Tropical Architecture course. The AA Diploma Roll Book records that immediately after graduation Winkley worked for the London office of the leading Catholic architectural practice of Greenhalgh and Williams. He then spent some time with the Schools Division of the London County Council Architects’ Department, before setting off to visit America in June 1960. Whilst in the US, Winkley worked for a practice in Washington and then joined the firm of Hugh Stubbins and Associates, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he assisted on a library and Catholic Club at Harvard University. In 1962, Winkley travelled to Mexico City, as a volunteer, engaged in a project to provide housing, a clinic and church buildings for earthquake victims. In 1963, on his return to the UK, he joined forces with John Williams, a fellow DTA alumni, to form the firm of ‘Williams and Winkley’. Winkley was an active member of the New Churches Research Group, promoting liturgical and design reform for the Roman Catholic church, post the Second Vatican Council of 1962.  His first church, for Williams and Winkley was the St. Margaret of Scotland, Twickenham, completed 1968-69), which has now been Grade II heritage listed. Other of his most notable works include the Church of St Elphege, Wallington (1972), Sacred Heart, Coventry (1978-79) and the Church of St Dunstan, Bourne End (1978-80). Winkley also acted as Cathedral Architect for Roman Catholic cathedral of St. George, Southwark, where in 1982 he designed and orchestrated a series of stages, stands and pavilions for an outdoor mass performed by Pope John-Paul II. Williams retired in the late 1980s, with the practice changing its name to Austin Winkley & Associates in 1987.

 Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Diploma Roll, 1924-1963, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Council Minutes Books, 24th February, 1958, p237. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Membership List, 1961
• General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
• The National Archives At Washington, D.C; Passenger & Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At New Orleans, Louisiana; NAI Number: 2848492; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Record Group Number: 85
• The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; NAI Number: 2848504; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: A3998; NARA Roll Number: 635
• The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; ; NAI Number: 2990227; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 - 2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: A4115; NARA Roll Number: 596
• The National Archives; Kew, UK; BT27 Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Outwards Passenger Lists; Reference Number: Series BT27-
• Proctor, R. Building the Modern Church:  Roman Catholic Church Architecture, 1955-1975, Routledge, 2014
• Siedlecka, J. ‘Profile: Austin Winkler’ Independent Catholic News, 2004. Accessed 3rd April, 2025,  https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/12522