Person    | Male  Born 26/6/1851  Died 17/11/1920

Richard Claude Belt

Categories: Sculpture

Sculptor. Born Westminster. At Mapping Sculpture we learnt that Belt was twice caught up in significant court cases, one of which had the Byron statue at its centre. Belt's former employer, Charles Lawes (sculptor and athlete, 1843-1911) claimed in print that the winning design for the statue was Lawes's and not Belt's. Belt sued and the high profile trial ran for 6 months in 1882. Witnesses included prominent portrait sitters and members of the Royal Academy. Belt won the case but Lawes filed for bankruptcy to avoid payment.

Then in 1886 Belt and his brother Walter were accused of obtaining money by false pretences (by the fraudulent sale of jewellery) from Sir William Neville Abdy. Walter was found not guilty but Richard got 12 months hard labour.

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Richard Claude Belt

Creations i

Byron statue

Byron is shown with his beloved Newfoundland dog, Boatswain, who had died of ...

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Queen Anne statue, St Paul's

The 4 female figures around the base represent: Britannia, France, America, I...

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Oliver Wheatley

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Thomas Rudge

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Pavlos Angelos Kougioumtzis

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Alan Collins

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1 memorial
Mel Morris Jones

Mel Morris Jones

The picture shows "Mel Morris Jones and Harry Brockway checking for level" but we don't know which is which, and we have to admit, it's not a good picture of either.

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1 memorial