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 - from Poets’ Fountain

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

A. Elfes and Sons

A. Elfes and Sons

Sculptors active 1920.

Group, Sculpture

1 memorial
Naomi Blake

Naomi Blake

Born Czechoslovakia around 1924 to 1927. Survived Auschwitz though most of her family did not. 1955-60 she studied at Hornsey School of Art.

Person, Sculpture, Czechoslovakia

1 memorial
Newbury Abbot Trent

Newbury Abbot Trent

Sculptor.  Born Forest Gate.  His cousin was a cinema architect which probably explains a number of theatrical commissions.  Married Hilda, sister of Gilbert Ledward.  Other work in London includes...

Person, Sculpture

2 memorials
Frederick  E. E. Schenck

Frederick E. E. Schenck

Born Edinburgh to a German immigrant lithographer. Via Stoke on Trent he moved to London in 1888. Often worked with the architect Henry Hare. Speel provides a lot of information including that Sche...

Person, Sculpture, Scotland

4 memorials

Previously viewed

Sir Osbert Sitwell

Sir Osbert Sitwell

Born 3 Arlington Street. Writer, famed for his collaborations with his sister Edith and brother Sacheverell. He wrote the libretto for Sir William Walton’s oratorio, Belshazzar’s Feast. Died Monteg...

Person, Literature, Music / songs, Italy

3 memorials
Alderman T. J. Boyce

Alderman T. J. Boyce

Member of Housing Committee, Diss Street 1922.

Person, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
Turk's Head - Wapping

Turk's Head - Wapping

This entry discusses two pubs in Wapping, both called the Turk's Head. The Turk's Head in Wapping High Street is said to be the pub where condemned men, on their way to Execution Dock, were given ...

Building, Commerce, Community / Clubs

2 memorials
Johnson statue

Johnson statue

WC2, Fleet Street

This bronze statue is placed close to St Clement Dane's church, the one that Johnson attended. Reverend Pennington, the rector at St Clem...

3 subjects commemorated, 3 creators
Frieze of Parnassus - Reynolds

Frieze of Parnassus - Reynolds

SW7, Kensington Road

The monument, officially titled the Prince Consort National Memorial, celebrates Victorian achievement and Prince Albert's passions and i...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator