Wyatt was an architect of talent and distinction – under George III he was appointed Surveyor of the Office of Works, in effect official architect to the nation – but a perennial shambles as a human being. He was disorganized, forgetful and perpetually dissolute. He was famously bibulous, and sometimes went on tremendous benders. One year he missed fifty straight weekly meetings at the Office of Works. His supervision of the office was so poor that one man was discovered to have been on holiday for three years.
