Thomas Brock

Sir Thomas Brock KCB RA (1 March 1847  22 August 1922) was an English sculptor and medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[1][2] His most famous work is the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London.[2] Other commissions included the redesign of the effigy of Queen Victoria on British coinage and the massive bronze equestrian statue of Edward, the Black Prince, in City Square, Leeds.[3]

Sir

Thomas Brock
Born1 March 1847
Died22 August 1922(1922-08-22) (aged 75)
London, England
NationalityBritish
Alma mater
  • School of Design, Worcester
  • Royal Academy Schools
Known forSculpture, coin design

Biography

Brock was born on 1 March 1847 in Worcester.[2] He was the only son of a painter and decorator an attended the Government School of Design in Worcester and then undertook an apprenticeship in modelling at the Worcester Royal Porcelain Works.[4] In 1866 he became a pupil of the sculptor John Henry Foley and also enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools where he won a gold medal for sculpture in 1869.[4][5] After Foley's death in 1874, Brock finished some of his commissions, including the monument to Daniel O'Connell in Dublin.[4][6] It was his completion of Foley's statue of Prince Albert for the Albert Memorial which first brought Brock to prominence and secured his position as an establishment sculptor.[6][5]

Thomas Brock in his studio, 1889

Brock's group The Moment of Peril (now in the garden of Leighton House) was followed by The Genius of Poetry, at the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen. A plaster model for Eve was shown at the Royal Academy in 1898; a marble version (1900) is in the collection of the Tate and Brock also cast some smaller bronze replicas and other imaginative works that mark his development.[7] His portrait works include busts, such as those of Lord Leighton and Queen Victoria, statues, such as Sir Richard Owen and Henry Philpott, bishop of Worcester, and sepulchral monuments such as that of Lord Leighton (died 1896) in St Paul's Cathedral.[8][5]

In 1901 Brock was asked to make a colossal equestrian statue of Edward the Black Prince for Leeds City Square, and was also given perhaps his most significant commission, the vast multi-figure Imperial Memorial to Queen Victoria to be set up in front of Buckingham Palace. He had previously made statues of the queen to celebrate her golden and diamond jubilees, and designed the depiction of her "veiled" or "widowed" head, used on all gold, silver and bronze coinage between 1893 and 1901. According to legend, at the unveiling of the memorial in May 1911, George V was so moved by the excellence of the memorial that he called for a sword and knighted Brock on the spot.

Brock was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1883 and became a full member in 1891.[5] He was the founding president of the Society of British Sculptors.[6] He died in London on 22 August 1922. Brock married in 1869, and had eight children.

Public monuments

1875–1889

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Richard Baxter St Mary's, Kidderminster 1875 Statue on pedestalMarble and granite Grade II Originally in the Bull Ring, Kidderminster and moved to its present site in March 1967.[9][10][11]

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A Moment of Peril Rosenborg Castle Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark 1880 Sculpture groupBronze Q57542450 Replica of the original in the gardens of the Leighton House Museum in London.[12]

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Statue of Robert Raikes Victoria Embankment Gardens, London 1880 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Grade IIQ19967451 [13][14]

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Sir Rowland Hill Vicar Street, Kidderminster 1881 Statue on circular pedestalStone and granite Grade IIQ26392153 [15][16][17]

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Colin Minton Campbell London Road, Stoke-on-Trent 1887 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone5.05m high [18]

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Queen Victoria Shire Hall, Worcester 1887 Statue on pedestalMarble and granite Grade IIQ26669257 [19]

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Statue of Henry Bartle Frere Whitehall Gardens, London 1888 Statue on pedestalBronze and granite Grade IIQ21286428 [20][21][5]

1890–1899

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Queen Victoria Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, South Africa 1890 Statue on pedestalGranite pedestal Q20614583
Daniel O'Connell St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia Erected 1891 Statue on pedestalBronze [22]
Bishop Henry Philpott Worcester Cathedral 1892 Seated statue on pedestalStone [23]
Richard Owen Natural History Museum, London 1896 Statue on pedestalBronze and marble [24]

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Memorial to Sir Augustus Harris Catherine St. facade of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane 1897 Wall mounted drinking fountain and sculptureGranite and bronze Grade I Memorial architect: Sidney R. J. Smith [25]
William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr Upper Thomas Street, Merthyr Tydfil 1898 Statue on pedestalBronze and granite Grade IIQ29489929 [26]
Thomas Hughes Rugby School 1899 Statue on pedestal [27]

1900–1909

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Queen Victoria Victoria Square, Birmingham 1901, recast 1951 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Q47460184 Recast by William Bloye from Brock's original marble statue in 1951[28]

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Queen Victoria Grand Avenue, Hove Unveiled 1901 Statue on pedestalBronze and marble Grade IIQ26482744 [29]

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Queen Victoria Carlton House Terrace, London Unveiled 1902 StatueMarble Q19927909

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Queen Victoria Bitts Park, Carlisle 1902 Statue on pedestal & stepsBronze and granite Grade IIQ26513391 [30][31]
Royal Scots Fusiliers memorial Burns Statue Square, Ayr 1902 Statue on pedestalBronze and granite Category BQ17834558 [32][33]

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Edward, the Black Prince Leeds City Square 1903 Equestrian statue on pedestalBronze and granite Grade II*Q17533834 [34][5]

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Queen Victoria Belfast City Hall. 1903 Statue on pedestal and steps with sculpturesMarble, Portland stone, bronze Grade A [35][36]

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Edward James Harland Belfast City Hall 1903 Statue on pedestalStone Q17778453 [37]

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William Ewart Gladstone St John's Gardens, Liverpool 1904 Statue on pedestal, relief panel with 2 statues at baseBronze Grade IIQ26333153 [38]

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Sir John Everett Millais Tate Britain, London 1905 Statue on pedestalBronze and Portland stone Grade IIQ27080819 [39][40]

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Sir Henry Tate Brixton Oval, London 1905 Bust on pedestalBronze and stone Grade IIQ27087718 [41]

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Statue of Queen Victoria Queen's Park, Bangalore 1906 Statue on pedestal Q22116770 [42]

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Queen Victoria Queens Gardens, Brisbane, Australia 1906 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone [43]

1910–1919

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Statue of Sir Henry Irving Charing Cross Road, London 1910 Statue on pedestalBronze and Portland stone Grade IIQ18162015 [44]

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Victoria Memorial, London The Mall, London Unveiled 1911, completed 1924 Sculpture on pillar with statues and fountainsMarble, bronze, Portland stone Grade IQ1333411 [45][5][46]

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William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr Aberdare Park, Aberdare 1913 Statue on pedestalBronze and granite Grade IIQ29489480 [47]
Navigation Admiralty Arch, London 1908–1913 Wall-mounted statuePortland stone Grade I [48]
Gunnery Admiralty Arch, London 1908–1913 Wall-mounted statuePortland stone Grade I [48][49]

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Statue of Captain James Cook The Mall, London 1914 Statue on pedestalBronze and Portland stone Grade IIQ17514442 [50][51]

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Edward VII Queen's Park, Toronto 1919 Equestrian statue on pedestalBronze and stone Originally erected in Delhi, India, relocated to Canada in 1969 as a gift of the government of India.[52]

1920 and later

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Titanic Memorial, Belfast Belfast City Hall 1920 Statue group on pedestalStone Q7809806 [36]

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Edward VII Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia 1921 Equestrian statue on pedestalBronze and stone Brock won the commission in 1915, but the work was not finished and delivered until 1921.[53]

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Queen Victoria Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, India 1921 Statue on pedestalMarble Q92360284 [54][55]
Captain Charles Grant Seely St Olave's Church, Gatcombe, Isle of Wight. 1922 Sculpture on box tombMarble and stone Q93239404 Brock's final completed work.[56][57]

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Memorial to Joseph Lister Portland Place, London 1924 Bust on column with sculpturesBronze and granite Grade IIQ21541736 [58]

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War memorial Queen's University, Belfast 1924 Statue group on pedestalBronze and granite Q66459168 [59]

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Robert Raikes Gloucester 1930 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone A copy of Brock's 1880 statue in London[60]

Other works

References

  1. "Sir Thomas Brock British sculptor". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  2. Ian Chilvers (2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860476-9.
  3. Stocker, Mark (3 January 2008). "Brock, Sir Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32080. Retrieved 5 June 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. University of Glasgow History of Art / HATII (2011). "Sir Thomas Brock RA, KCB, PRBS, HRSA". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851–1951. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  5. Susan Beattie (1983). The New Sculpture. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art / Yale University Press. ISBN 0300033591.
  6. "Sir Thomas Brock RA (1847–1922)". Royal Academy. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  7. "Sir Thomas Brock: Eve, 1900". Tate. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  8. Chisholm 1911.
  9. The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p207
  10. Kidderminster Since 1800, Ken Tomkinson and George Hall, 1975, pp. 209–210.
  11. Historic England. "The Baxter Monument (1100091)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  12. "A Moment of Peril". The Victorian Web. 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  13. Historic England. "Statue of Robert Raikes (1066179)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  14. Gomme 1910, p. 42.
  15. Historic England. "Statue of Sir Rowland Hill (1100054)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  16. The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p208
  17. "Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879)". Thomas Brock. Victorianweb.org. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  18. "Statue of Colin Minton Campbell (1827-1885)". Public Monument and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  19. Historic England. "Statue of Queen Victoria Approximately 15 metres to west of Shire Hall (1389833)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  20. Historic England. "Statue of Sir Bartle Frere (1066176)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  21. Gomme 1910, p. 24.
  22. "St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne". Australia's Christian Heritage. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  23. The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968, p. 312.
  24. John C. Thackray (1995). A catalogue of portraits, paintings and sculpture at the Natural History Museum, London. Mansell, London.
  25. Historic England. "Theatre Royal Drury Lane and attached Sir Augustus Harris Memorial Drinking Fountain (1357276)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  26. Cadw. "Statue & Plinth to Sir W.T. Lewis (11476)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  27. Public sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull by George Thomas Noszlopy, pp. 28–29.
  28. George T. Noszlopy (1998). Public Sculpture of Britain volume 2: Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-682-8.
  29. Historic England. "Statue of Queen Victoria (1187555)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  30. Historic England. "Statue of Queen Victoria (1218785)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  31. "Queen Victoria Monument, Carlisle". History and Heritage. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  32. Historic Environment Scotland. "Burns Statue Square, South African War Memorial  (Category B Listed Building) (LB21516)". Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  33. "War Memorials Register: Royal Scots Fusiliers - Burma, Sudan, Tirah Campagn, 1st Boer War and 2nd Boer War". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  34. Historic England. "Statue of the Black Prince (1375045)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  35. "Victoria Memorial". Buildings Database, Northern Ireland Department of Communities. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  36. "Belfast City Hall". Causeway Coastal Path. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  37. "Edward James Harland statue". Titanic Memorials. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  38. Historic England. "Gladstone Monument (1073469)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  39. "Sir Thomas Brock: Sir John Everett Millais 1904". Tate. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  40. Historic England. "Statue of John Everett Millais (1222797)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  41. Historic England. "Bust of Sir Henry Tate (1434203)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  42. Iyer, Meera (4 February 2013). "Empress of all she surveys" (Bangalore). Deccan Herald. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  43. "Queen Victoria". Monument Australia. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  44. Historic England. "Statue of Henry Irving, London (1357292)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  45. Historic England. "Queen Victoria Memorial (1273864)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  46. "National Victoria Memorial 1911". Yale Centre for British Art. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  47. Cadw. "Pedestal and Statue of Lord Merthyr in Aberdare Park (10885)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  48. "Sculpture by Thomas Brock on Admiralty Arch". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  49. "Gunnery". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  50. "The Mall, London". The Captain Cook Society. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  51. Historic England. "Statue of Captain Cook (1239083)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  52. Wencer, David. "Historicist: Here Comes the Equestrian Statue". Torontoist. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  53. "Royalty and Australian Society Chapter 2: King Edward VII". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  54. "Queen Victoria". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  55. "HM The Queen Empress Victoria (1819–1901)". Museums of India, National Portal & Digital Repository. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  56. Harris, Oliver D. (2018). "A crusading 'captain in khaki': Sir Thomas Brock's monument to Charles Grant Seely at Gatcombe (Isle of Wight)". Church Monuments. 33: 97–120.
  57. "War Memorials Register: Captain CG Seely". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  58. Historic England. "Lister Monument in Centre of Road opposite Numbers 71 to 81 (odd) Portland Place (1265542)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  59. "War Memorials Register: Sacrifice - Queens University". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  60. "Robert Raikes Statue Achievements". Gloucester Civic Trust. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  61. "A Moment of Peril, 1880, Sir Thomas Brock". Tate. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  62. "Statue of Queen Victoria | Yale Center For British Art". interactive.britishart.yale.edu. Retrieved 21 April 2018.

Bibliography

Preceded by
Joseph Edgar Boehm
Coins of the pound sterling
Obverse sculptor

1892
Succeeded by
George William de Saulles
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