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F. W. Pomeroy

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Frederick William Pomeroy
Pomeroy, 1908, by Robert Anning Bell
Born9 October 1856
Lambeth, London, England
Died26 May 1924(1924-05-26) (aged 67)
Cliftonville, Kent, England
Resting placeBoscombe, Hampshire, England
NationalityBritish
Alma mater
Known forSculpture
MovementNew Sculpture

Frederick William Pomeroy RA (9 October 1856 – 26 May 1924) was a prolific British sculptor of architectural and monumental works.[1] He became a leading sculptor in the New Sculpture movement, a group distinguished by a stylistic turn towards naturalism and for their works of architectural sculpture. Pomeroy had several significant public works in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, notably in Belfast. His work in London includes the figure of Lady Justice (1905–1906) on the dome of the Old Bailey.

Biography

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Pomeroy was born in Lambeth, London, the son of a stone-carver.[2][3] After his father died in 1869 Pomeroy, aged 14, was left as the main wage-earner for the family and was apprenticed to a firm of architectural stone carvers.[1][4] Later he trained, for four years, with William Silver Frith at the South London Technical School of Art where he was also taught by Jules Dalou.[4] The naturalistic style of Dalou's sculptures were a great influence on Pomeroy's subsequent works.[4] In 1880, Pomeroy was able to enrol in the Royal Academy Schools, where he won a number of prizes, including silver medals in both 1882 and 1883.[5] In 1885 he won a gold medal and travelling scholarship which allowed him to study in Paris under Antonin Mercié and also in Italy.[4][5]

On returning to London, Pomeroy joined the Art Workers Guild in 1887,[6] and in 1888 began exhibiting with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society.[7] In 1887 he was part of a group of artists, supported by the Royal Doulton Company, who created sculptures for a fountain in honour [de] of Queen Victoria in Glasgow.[7] For the fountain, now situated on Glasgow Green, Pomeroy carved the group representing Australia.[7] Also in 1887 he met the architect J. D. Sedding who subsequently commissioned a large number of decorative architectural works from Pomeroy.[7] These included carvings for the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer in London, an exterior sculpture for the tower of St Clement's Church in Bournemouth plus a screen and choir stalls in bronze for Holy Trinity, Sloane Street.[7][8] Pomeroy also created a bronze angel, now lost, for St Peter's Church, Ealing to accompany decorative work by Henry Wilson.[9]

Alongside his architectural work, Pomeroy continued to create smaller exhibition pieces. He carved a marble replica of Frederic Leighton's 1877 bronze sculpture Athlete wrestling with a python which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1891 before being transported to Denmark and, eventually, to Australia.[10] The piece was poorly received at the Academy in comparison to the bronze original but a number of other works in the New Sculpture style by Pomeroy helped build his artistic reputation.[10] These included his 1890 statuette of Dionysus, now in the Tate, So on a Delphic Reed from 1888 and Love the Conqueror shown at both the Royal Academy and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool during 1893.[11][7] During the 1890s, Pomeroy showed eleven works at the Royal Academy, eight of which were small statuettes.[7] Some of these, including Perseus and Love the Conqueror were reproduced in sizes suitable for the domestic market, although some much larger versions of Perseus were also cast, including a life-size bronze now in the National Museum Cardiff.[7][12][13]

After Sedding died in 1891, his pupil Henry Wilson took over his architectural practice and continued to commission designs from Pomeroy.[7] These included a chimney piece, now destroyed, for a library at Ladbroke Grove in London, decorative items for the library and chapel at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire and a frieze for the chapel at Douglas Castle in South Lanarkshire.[7] The architect Edward William Mountford commissioned architectural sculptures and decorations from Pomeroy for Paisley Town Hall in 1890 and, more extensively, for Sheffield Town Hall in 1895.[7] For the latter Pomeroy created a number of works, including a frieze of industrial workers, low-reliefs of figures representing Steam and Electricity, figures of Thor and Vulcan supporting the city crest plus a series of six lunettes and spandrels representing aspects of civic virtue.[7][14][15]

Fortitude, Truth and the Recording Angel, The Old Bailey, London

In the first decade of the 20th century, Pomeroy received several further commissions for architectural sculptures on buildings designed by Mountford. These included the figure of Lady Justice on the dome of the Old Bailey plus figures for the entrance to the court, statuettes, lamp standards and other decorations for the Liverpool Museum and Technical College, work for Lancaster Town Hall and a series of low-relief panels on gin-making for the exterior of Booth's Distillery in central London.[7][16] Starting in 1905 Pomeroy created four colossal bronze figures for the upstream side of Vauxhall Bridge in London.[7][17]

In 1907 Pomeroy became Master of the Art Workers Guild.[6] He was elected an Associate member of the Royal Academy in 1906, and a full member in 1917.[5] From 1898 to 1908 he was a regular exhibitor with the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, at Leeds City Art Gallery from 1897 to 1909, with the Aberdeen Artists Society from 1893 to 1923 and with the Royal Scottish Academy he showed seven works between 1903 and 1924.[1] Pomeroy displayed works at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition each year from 1885 to 1924 and, in the same period, showed 17 works at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and, late in his life, became a regular exhibitor with the Royal West of England Academy.[1] Several museums hold examples of Pomeroy's work including the Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne and Pollok House in Glasgow.[7]

In 1913 Pomeroy married Patricia Morrison Coughlan, of Douglas, County Cork, with who he had two sons.[18] Pomeroy died on 26 May 1924,[5] aged 65, and was buried at Boscombe in Hampshire. A memorial to him is in St James's Church, Piccadilly.

Public works

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1887–1905

[edit]
Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes

More images 		Australia The Doulton Fountain [de], Glasgow Green 1887 Sculpture group Terracotta Category A Q17568982 [7][19]

More images 		Robert Burns Fountain Gardens, Paisley 1895 Statue on pedestal with plaques Bronze and granite Category B Q17843407 [20][21]

More images 		Gordon Highlanders memorial obelisk Duthie Park, Aberdeen 1898 Obelisk Granite 4.5m high Category C Q77776613 Douglas Strachan (designer), Henderson & Webster (masons), originally topped with a bronze sculpture which is now missing[22][23]

More images 		Statue of Admiral Robert Blake Cornhill, Bridgwater, Somerset 1900 Statue on pedestal Bronze and granite Grade II* Q30625603 [24][25]
William Ewart Gladstone Central Lobby, Houses of Parliament, London 1900 Statue on pedestal Marble 2.4m tall [7][26]

More images 		Statue of Oliver Cromwell Market Hill, St Ives, Cambridgeshire 1901 Statue on pedestal and steps Bronze and Portland stone Grade II Q22917664 [24][27][28]
Frederick John Horniman Exterior of the Horniman Museum, London 1901 Plaque Bronze [29]

More images 		Dr. Walter Hook City Square, Leeds 1903 Statue on pedestal Bronze and granite Grade II Q26655854 [24][30]

More images 		Statue of Queen Victoria Forecourt of Chester Castle, Cheshire 1903 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II Q15615686 [31]

More images 		Robert Ascroft M.P. Alexandra Park, Oldham, Greater Manchester 1903 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II Q26497406 [24][32]

More images 		Robert Burns The Domain, Sydney, Australia 1905 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Q106458976 [33]

More images 		Queen Victoria Interior of Woolwich Town Hall, London 1905 Statue on pedestal Marble Q125678400 [34]
Samuel Hole Rochester Cathedral, Kent 1905 Recumbent figure Marble Grade I [35][36]

More images 		Archbishop Frederick Temple St Paul's Cathedral, London 1905 Curved relief plaque Bronze [37]

1906–1909

[edit]
Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes

More images 		Justice The Old Bailey, London 1906 Statue Gilded bronze Grade II* Q55247277 [16][38]

More images 		Hibernia and Minerva with Industry, Labour & Liberty Pediment, Belfast City Hall 1906 Deep relief architectural sculpture Stone Grade A [39][40]

More images 		James Nugent St John's Gardens, Liverpool 1906 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II Q26504982 [24][41]

More images 		Marquess of Dufferin Belfast City Hall 1906 3 piece sculpture group on pedestal with canopy Bronze and stone Q17778397 [42][43][39][44]
Boer War memorial The Great Hall, Guildhall, London 1907 3 Relief panels Bronze [45][46]

More images 		Agriculture, Architecture, Pottery

and Engineering

West side of Vauxhall Bridge, London 1907 Four statues Bronze Grade II* Q1142134 [7][17]
George Ridding Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire 1907 Statue on platform Bronze and marble Grade I Memorial designed by W D Caroe[47][48]

More images 		Francis Bacon South Square, Gray's Inn, London 1908 Statue on pedestal Bronze and Portland stone Grade II Q27084378 [49][50]

More images 		Bishop Arthur Lloyd Newcastle Cathedral 1908 Effigy Alabaster [51]

More images 		Sir James Horner Haslett Belfast City Hall 1909 Statue on pedestal Q17778550 [44]

More images 		Learning World Museum, Byrom Street, Liverpool 1909 Statue on column Bronze Grade II* Q5146857 Former College of Technology and Museum extension, with other decoration by Pomeroy, architect E.W. Mountford.[52]

More images 		Navigation World Museum Liverpool 1909 Statue on column Bronze Grade II* Q5146857 [52]

1910–1919

[edit]
Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes

More images 		Thomas Guthrie West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh 1910 Statue on pedestal Portland stone Category B Q17813224 [53]

More images 		Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton In front of Burton upon Trent Town Hall 1911 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II Q26290476 [54][55]

More images 		Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby Interior of St George's Hall, Liverpool 1911 Statue Marble Q114932527 [56][57]
George Livesey Grounds of former Livesey Museum for Children, London Unveiled 1911 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Grade II Q26665510 [58][59][60]
Hywel Dda The Marble Hall, Cardiff City Hall 1916 Statue group on pedestal Marble [61]

More images 		Birthplace of Thomas Gray 39 Cornhill, London 1917-18 Plaque Bronze Grade II [62]

More images 		Robert James McMordie Belfast City Hall 1919 Statue on pedestal Marble Grade A Q17778465 [44]

1920–1924

[edit]
Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes

More images 		George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston Victoria Memorial, Kolkata 1921 Statue on pedestal Marble Q126372276 [63]

More images 		War memorial Ramsey, Cambridgeshire 1921 Statue on column Bronze and stone Grade II Q26459919 [64][65]
Sir Clements Markham Courtyard of Lowther Lodge, London 1921 Bust Bronze Grade II* [66][67]

More images 		War memorial Coleraine, County Londonderry 1922 Statue on obelisk with base figure Bronze and Portland stone 5.4m high [68]

More images 		War memorial Kensington High Street, London 1922 Cross on column and pedestal Portland stone 10.6m high Grade II Q26300012 Architect: Hubert Christian Corlette.[69][70]
War memorial Inver Park, Larne, County Antrim 1922 Cenotaph with sculpture figures Portland stone and bronze Grade B1 [71]

More images 		Brigadier-General John Nicholson Market Square, Lisburn 1922 Statue on pedestal Bronze and stone Category B [72]

Other works

[edit]
  • The Lily of Killarney
    The Lily of Killarney
  • The Spearman bronze statue
    The Spearman bronze statue
  • The Wood Nymph (1908), Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Cheshire
    The Wood Nymph (1908), Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Cheshire

References

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