Person    | Male  Born 19/5/1815  Died 30/8/1885

Thomas Thornycroft

Categories: Sculpture

Sculptor. born Cheshire. Came to London in 1835 where he was apprenticed to John Francis and worked alongside another of Francis's apprentices, his daughter Mary, whom he married on 29 February 1840. Four of their children became artists or sculptors, including Hamo and Teresa, a painter who had three children including Siegfried Sassoon. Thomas's eldest son, John Isaac became a naval architect. It was Mary's work which sustained the family financially. The only surviving public sculptures by Thomas himself in London of which we are aware are the Commerce group on the Albert Memorial and the Boudicca statue, but even that was actually a joint production by the Thornycroft family.

He was an amateur engineer and late in life assisted his son John to design steam launches (we wonder if that "assisted" should be in quotes). The Thornycroft marriage appears to have been happy, but one has to admire Mary: a Victorian wife who brought up six children, carried on a successful career as a sculptor, and taught her skills to the royal princesses including Princess Louise. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography recounts this significant story from their granddaughter: "Thomas Thornycroft had been known to cut the heads off Mary's clay models, ostensibly to position them better, but provoking exasperated cries of ‘Only tell me! Thorny, only tell me!’ from his wife as she tried to protect her works". Our hearts go out to her.

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Thomas Thornycroft

Creations i

Boadicea/Boudicca/Boudica

The horses look totally out of control to us; no wonder the two daughters loo...

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Fame

The statue glistens with recent gilding. This was first done in 2002 in honou...

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Poets’ Fountain - Chaucer, Shakespeare & Milton

The seated figures represent the three Muses; the standing figures, the three...

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Other Subjects

Alfred Drury

Alfred Drury

Born London. More of his work can be seen on the Old War Office in Whitehall. Ornamental Passions has a good page on it.

Person, Sculpture

5 memorials
Marcia Debra Solway

Marcia Debra Solway

Solway lived in Rosebery Avenue and was in the sculpture class at the Mary Ward Centre in Queen Square.

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
Doreen (Dorrit) Collins

Doreen (Dorrit) Collins

Sculptor, artist and co-founder with Eddy Renton of the charity Kith and Kids.

Person, Art, Sculpture, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Ian Hamilton Finlay

Ian Hamilton Finlay

Poet, writer, artist and gardener. Born in the Bahamas to Scottish parents and brought up in Scotland. Studied at Glasgow School of Art. Combined his interests by installing concrete poetry in his ...

Person, Art, Sculpture, Caribbean Islands, Scotland

1 memorial
John H. Foley

John H. Foley

Born Dublin. Works include: Albert and the group Asia, both at the Albert Memorial, After Foley's death the statue of Albert was finished by his assistant Thomas Brock. Died at home, The Priory, Up...

Person, Sculpture, Ireland

4 memorials