F. W. Pomeroy

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.

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

Biography

Pomeroy was born in London, the son of an artist-craftsman.[2] 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][3] 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.[3] The naturalistic style of Dalou's sculptures were a great influence on Pomeroy's subsequent works.[3] 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.[4] In 1885 he won a gold medal and travelling scholarship which allowed him to study in Paris under Antonin Mercié and also in Italy.[3][4]

On returning to London, Pomeroy joined the Art Workers Guild in 1887,[5] and in 1888 began exhibiting with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society.[6] In 1887 he was part of a group of artists, supported by the Royal Doulton Company, who created sculptures for a fountain in honour of Queen Victoria in Glasgow.[6] For the fountain, now situated on Glasgow Green, Pomeroy carved the group representing Australia.[6] Also in 1887 he met the architect J. D. Sedding who subsequently commissioned a large number of decorative architectural works from Pomeroy.[6] 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.[6][7] Pomeroy also created a bronze angel, now lost, for St Peter's Church, Ealing to accompany decorative work by Henry Wilson.[8]

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.[9] 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.[9] 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.[10][6] During the 1890s, Pomeroy showed eleven works at the Royal Academy, eight of which were small statuettes.[6] 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.[6][11][12]

After Sedding died in 1891, his pupil Henry Wilson took over his architectural practice and continued to commission designs from Pomeroy.[6] 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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[6][13][14]

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.[6][15] Starting in 1905 Pomeroy created four colossal bronze figures for the upstream side of Vauxhall Bridge in London.[6][16]

In 1907 Pomeroy became Master of the Art Workers Guild.[5] He was elected an Associate member of the Royal Academy in 1906, and a full member in 1917.[4] 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.[6]

In 1913 Pomeroy married Patricia Morrison Coughlan, of Douglas, County Cork, with who he had two sons.[17] Pomeroy died on 26 May 1924,[4] aged 65, and was buried at Boscombe in Hampshire. A memorial to him is in St James's Church, Piccadilly.

Public works

1887–1905

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Australia The Doulton Fountain, Glasgow Green 1887 Sculpture groupTerracotta Category AQ17568982 [6][18]

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Robert Burns Fountain Gardens, Paisley 1895 Statue on pedestal with plaquesBronze and granite Category BQ17843407 [19][20]

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Gordon Highlanders memorial obelisk Duthie Park, Aberdeen 1898 ObeliskGranite4.5m high Category CQ77776613 Douglas Strachan (designer), Henderson & Webster (masons), originally topped with a bronze sculpture which is now missing[21][22]

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Statue of Admiral Robert Blake Cornhill, Bridgwater, Somerset 1900 Statue on pedestalBronze and granite Grade II*Q30625603 [23][24]
William Ewart Gladstone Central Lobby, Houses of Parliament, London 1900 Statue on pedestalMarble2.4m tall [6][25]

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Statue of Oliver Cromwell Market Hill, St Ives, Cambridgeshire 1901 Statue on pedestal and stepsBronze and Portland stone Grade IIQ22917664 [23][26][27]
Frederick John Horniman Exterior of the Horniman Museum, London 1901 PlaqueBronze [28]

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Dr. Walter Hook City Square, Leeds 1903 Statue on pedestalBronze and granite Grade IIQ26655854 [23][29]

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Statue of Queen Victoria Forecourt of Chester Castle, Cheshire 1903 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Grade IIQ15615686 [30]
Robert Ascroft M.P. Alexandra Park, Oldham, Greater Manchester 1903 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Grade IIQ26497406 [23][31]

More images
Robert Burns The Domain, Sydney, Australia 1905 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone [32]

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Queen Victoria Interior of Woolwich Town Hall, London 1905 Statue on pedestalMarble [33]
Samuel Hole Rochester Cathedral, Kent 1905 Recumbent figureMarble Grade I [34][35]

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Archbishop Frederick Temple St Paul's Cathedral, London 1905 Curved relief plaqueBronze [36]

1906–1909

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Justice The Old Bailey, London 1906 StatueGilded bronze Grade II*Q55247277 [15][37]

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Hibernia and Minerva with Industry, Labour & Liberty Pediment, Belfast City Hall 1906 Deep relief architectural sculptureStone Grade A [38][39]

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James Nugent St John's Gardens, Liverpool 1906 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Grade IIQ26504982 [23][40]

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Marquess of Dufferin Belfast City Hall 1906 3 piece sculpture group on pedestal with canopyBronze and stone Q17778397 [41][42][38][43]
Boer War memorial The Great Hall, Guildhall, London 1907 3 Relief panelsBronze [44][45]

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Agriculture, Architecture, Pottery

and Engineering

West side of Vauxhall Bridge, London 1907 Four statuesBronze Grade II*Q1142134 [6][16]
George Ridding Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire 1907 Statue on platformBronze and marble Grade I Memorial designed by W D Caroe[46][47]

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Francis Bacon South Square, Gray's Inn, London 1908 Statue on pedestalBronze and Portland stone Grade IIQ27084378 [48][49]

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Bishop Arthur Lloyd Newcastle Cathedral 1908 EffigyAlabaster [50]

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Sir James Horner Haslett Belfast City Hall 1909 Statue on pedestal Q17778550 [43]

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Learning World Museum, Byrom Street, Liverpool 1909 Statue on columnBronze Grade II*Q5146857 Former College of Technology and Museum extension, with other decoration by Pomeroy, architect E.W. Mountford.[51]

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Navigation World Museum Liverpool 1909 Statue on columnBronze Grade II*Q5146857 [51]

1910–1919

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Thomas Guthrie West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh 1910 Statue on pedestalPortland stone Category BQ17813224 [52]

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Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton In front of Burton upon Trent Town Hall 1911 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Grade IIQ26290476 [53][54]

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Earl of Derby Interior of St George's Hall, Liverpool 1911 StatueMarble [55][56]
George Livesey Grounds of former Livesey Museum for Children, London Unveiled 1911 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Grade IIQ26665510 [57][58][59]
Hywel Dda The Marble Hall, Cardiff City Hall 1916 Statue group on pedestalMarble [60]

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Birthplace of Thomas Gray 39 Cornhill, London 1917-18 PlaqueBronze Grade II [61]

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Robert James McMordie Belfast City Hall 1919 Statue on pedestalMarble [43]

1920–1924

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates
Date TypeMaterialDimensions DesignationWikidata Notes

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Lord Curzon Victoria Memorial, Kolkata 1921 Statue on pedestalMarble [62]

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War memorial Ramsey, Cambridgeshire 1921 Statue on columnBronze and stone Grade IIQ26459919 [63][64]
Sir Clements Markham Courtyard of Lowther Lodge, London 1921 BustBronze Grade II* [65][66]

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War memorial Coleraine, County Londonderry 1922 Statue on obelisk with base figureBronze and Portland stone5.4m high [67]

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War memorial Kensington High Street, London 1922 Cross on column and pedestalPortland stone10.6m high Grade IIQ26300012 Architect: Hubert Christian Corlette.[68][69]
War memorial Inver Park, Larne, County Antrim 1922 Cenotaph with sculpture figuresPortland stone and bronze Grade B1 [70]

More images
Brigadier-General John Nicholson Market Square, Lisburn 1922 Statue on pedestalBronze and stone Category B [71]

Other works

References

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