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

Richard Reginald Goulden

Richard Reginald Goulden

Born Dover. In WW1 served with the Royal Engineers in France.  Other London works include: a war memorial at St John, Hackney, the Hornsey County School War Memorial now housed in the Crouch End To...

Person, Sculpture

5 memorials
Ralph Perrott

Ralph Perrott

Sculptor active in 2011.  Freelanced page.

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
Mihail Chemiakin

Mihail Chemiakin

Sculptor. He spent his early years in East Germany, where his father was serving in the army. Returning to Russia, he worked at the Hermitage museum. He was exiled in 1971 for failing to conform to...

Person, Sculpture, France, Germany, Russia

1 memorial
M. L. Watson

M. L. Watson

Born Cumberland. Other work includes a statue of Queen Elizabeth I for the Royal Exchange.

Person, Sculpture

2 memorials
Farmer & Brindley

Farmer & Brindley

Firm of sculptors. Founded by William Farmer (1825-1879) and William Brindley. Worked on many buildings including the Natural History Museum, the Albert Memorial and Holborn Viaduct. In 1929 the fi...

Group, Sculpture

4 memorials

Previously viewed

Royal Brunswick Theatre bollards

Royal Brunswick Theatre bollards

E1, Ensign Street

When the theatres were here the street was named Well Street. There are 10 bollards, some damaged, but the survival of the collection is ...

1 subject commemorated
Winston Churchill - Caxton Hall

Winston Churchill - Caxton Hall

SW1, Caxton Street, 10, Caxton Hall

The foundation stone is low down at the right hand side of the building. Above each of the two statues is a bust, both of the Greek god v...

2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Royal Marsden Hospital

Royal Marsden Hospital

"Now gentlemen, I want to found a hospital for the treatment of cancer, and for the study of the disease, for at the present time we know absolutely nothing about it." - Dr William Marsden - 1851. ...

Group, Medicine

2 memorials
Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Film director. Born at 517 Leytonstone High Road above his father William’s greengrocery and poultry shop. See Spitalfields Life for an unusual take on his life in Leytonstone. When Alfie was about...

Person, Cinema, Seriously Famous

23 memorials