William Lambie Moffatt was born in Scotland in 1807. As a young man he became a pupil of William Burn, a noted Scottish architect. He was living in Edinburgh in 1833 but in 1836 he won the competition
for Wakefield Corn Exchange with an original design in the Greek Revival style.
This probably induced him to settle in Doncaster. In 1838 William Hurst of Doncaster invited him
to become a partner, his previous partner John Woodhead having died, and for the next six years
Hurst and Moffatt had a flourishing practice, particularly for churches financed by The Incorporated Church Building Society.