British bronze sculpture founders and plaster figure makers, 1800-1980 - M

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Frederick Mancini, 416 Fulham Road, London 1911-1920, bronze founder. Frederick Mancini & Son 1932, Frederick Mancini 1933-1934, 17a Maxwell Road, Fulham, art bronze founders.

Frederico Mancini (c.1866-1943) was in England by the late 1890s. He worked at the Fonderia Nelli in Rome and then for Alexander Parlanti (qv), according to his son, Domenico (James 1986 p.25), before setting up independently in or before 1911.

Frederico Mancini was described as a sculptor at 13 Meek St, Kensington, in 1901 when his daughter Dorothy was christened. In the 1911 census Mancini was recorded at 416 Fulham Road as a bronze worker, age 45, born in Italy, with his wife and six children, who included Domenico, age 14, born in Italy, and Eve, age 12, born in London, suggesting that the family moved to England c.1897-9. He was recorded in business as a founder at 416 Fulham Road in the Post Office London directory from 1912, where he followed Guglielmo Cuccioli & Co, bronze founders, a business first listed in 1909. [Guglielmo Cuccioli (b.1870) was apparently an Italian anarchist and wax moulder.] From 1921 the foundry was taken over by Mario Manenti (see below). Mancini died in 1943, age 77, in the Halifax district.

Frederick Mancini, whether the father or his son (see below), exhibited a work at the Royal Academy from an address in Cheltenham in 1926. He seems to have moved there to work for the founders, H.H. Martyn & Co, introducing the lost wax process; however, he ‘did not stay long’, according to the recollections of a member of Martyn’s foundry team (John Whitaker, The Best: A History of H.H.Martyn and Co., 1996, pp.99, 105).

Three of Mancini’s sons were active in related businesses, Domenico (‘Mac’) Mancini (1897-1976) as a sculptors’ moulder, George (1904-89) as a founder and Frederick (1905-90) as a sculptor. George trained as an apprentice with Ercole Parlanti (qv) (Parlanti 2010 p.34) and set up his own foundry in Edinburgh in the 1930s. In later life, he was employed as a consultant by the firm, Charles Henshaw & Sons, Edinburgh, to supervise repair work on Alfred Gilbert’s Eros (see Timothy Bidwell, ‘The Restoration of Eros’, in Dorment 1986 p.39). He taught bronze casting to Gerald Laing. For Domenico Mancini, see below.

Works in bronze: Little is known of Frederick Mancini’s foundry work but for Alfred Gilbert’s figures of saints, 1926-7, for the Albert Memorial Chapel, Windsor (see Dorment 1985 p.313).

For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

D. Mancini 1959-1960, Mancini-Tozer Ltd 1961-1981. At 1 Griffith’s Road, South Wimbledon, London SW19 1959-1968, Hunters Moon Farm, Dorking Road, Abinger Hammer, Surrey 1968-1981. Fibrous plasterers, waste moulders, piece moulders, architectural plasterworkers, cold cast bronze.

The business seems to have been a partnership between Domenico (‘Mac’) Mancini (1897-1976), the son of Frederick Mancini (see above), and Vic Tozer, probably to be identified with Victor Maurice Tozer (b.1906), the son of a plasterer, Henry Tozer, recorded in Notting Hill in the 1911 census.

In 1959 Mancini was offering ‘Waste moulding, Piece moulding, Architectural plasterwork’ (Society of Portrait Sculptors, 7th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1959). By 1963 Mancini-Tozer Ltd was advertising ‘Casting in Cold Cast Bronze. Brass Copper Lead Nickel Silver. Also Waste Moulding, Architectural plasterwork’ (Society of Portrait Sculptors, 11th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1963). In 1966 the business was describing itself as 'Casting. Sculpture for 50 years in Plaster and for 15 years in Resin Bronze' (Society of Portrait Sculptors, 14th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1966), advertising in identical terms until at least 1976. Mancini-Tozer Ltd was struck off the companies’ register in 1973 (London Gazette 6 March 1973) but continued to be recorded in exhibition catalogue advertisements.

Works in sculpture: ‘Mac’ Mancini, described as ‘the renowned plaster caster’, managed the casting in 1958 of Barbara Hepworth's earlier work, Oval Sculpture (No.2), 1943, according to one of her assistants at the time, Brian Wall (Matthew Gale and Chris Stephens, Barbara Hepworth: works in the Tate Gallery Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum, St Ives, 1999, p.84). Hepworth chose to make bronze casts of selected earlier carvings, starting with this piece which apparently horrified Mancini when he saw its complexity. Nevertheless, he succeeded in making a plaster cast, using a forty-piece mould, as the first of several of Hepworth’s works to be cast (Brian Wall, interviewed by Chris Stephens, 3 May 1996, see Tate Collection website).

A photograph featuring Maurice Lambert in 1962, close to the end of his life, shows him with his own assistants and, in the back row the sculptor Fred Mancini, together with Mac Mancini, Bert, Vic Tozer and Wally Wolford from Mancini-Tozer, against a backcloth of the outsize plaster model of Lambert’s Grand Fountain for the Presidential Palace, Baghdad (Vanessa Nicolson, The Sculpture of Maurice Lambert, 2002, pp.90-1).

Victor Tozer supplied a bronze resin cast of Frederick Mancini’s statue after A.G. Walker, Florence Nightingale, cast 1977-8, to replace an earlier stolen statue (St Thomas’ Hospital, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.52-4). Tozer is said to have had access to Frederick Mancini's studio and to have discovered his model there.

For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Mario Manenti, 416 Fulham Road, London 1921-1928 as moulders and founders in metal, 416C Fulham Road 1929-1933 as an artist.

A bronze founder and an artist, Mario Manenti (1885-1954) took over an existing foundry at 416 Fulham Road in 1921 (see Frederick Mancini, above). He employed the architect, Allan M. Danfall, to remodel the foundry in 1922 (see Sources below), which he ran, together with associated studios, until 1927, in partnership with Ralph Evangelisti, as Garden Crafts, moulders and founders in metal (London Gazette 7 October 1927). His business was described in telephone books as ‘artistic works’. He exhibited bronzes at the Royal Academy, 1923-5.

Manenti created the so-called 'Italian Village' of picturesque low pantiled buildings around his workshops (Bridget Cherry, Nikolaus Pevsner, London 3: North West‎, 1991, p.249), adding three studios with rooms behind 414 Fulham Road in 1925-6, a further six residential studios behind no.412 by 1930 and additional units subsequently, which were occupied by various artists and sculptors (Giles Walkley, Artists' houses in London 1764-1914, 1994, p.238, giving Manenti’s life dates).

Manenti married Germaine P.A. Auger in 1911 in the Fulham district and petitioned for divorce in 1929 (National Archives, Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, file 3162).

Works in bronze: Examples of the foundry’s work, all for war memorials, include P. Lindsey Clark’s St Saviour’s Southwark War Memorial, 1922, marked: M. MANENTI/ FOUNDER (Southwark, Borough High St, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.212-14) and his Cameronians War Memorial, 1924, marked: M. MANENTI FOUNDRY (Glasgow, George Square, see Public Sculpture of Glasgow, p.242), Paul Raphael Montford’s Croydon War Memorial, 1921, and George Thomas’s Milnrow War Memorial, 1924 (Rochdale, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.447).

Sources: London Metropolitan Archives, Building Act case files, GLC/AR/BR/06/049391, plan, elevations and correspondence on foundry rebuilding, 1922-3, kindly examined by Olivia Oldroyd. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Manor Iron Foundry, see Robert Masefield & Co

Vincent Marchetti (or Merchitti) (b. c.1800), see Louis Brugiotti

Baron Carlo Marochetti, London, foundry from 1853. Sculptor and bronze founder.

Baron Carlo Marochetti, RA (1805-68) is not included here since sculptors’ own foundries lie outside the immediate scope of this directory but see Roscoe 2009. It is worth noting that he cast Sir Edwin Landseer’s lions for Nelson’s Column, 1866 (Trafalgar Square).

H.H. Martyn & Co, Cheltenham.

Outside the scope of this directory but see John Whitaker, The Best. A History of H.H. Martyn & Co., 1985; see also Frederick Mancini in this directory.

Robert Masefield & Co, Manor Iron Works, 93, 95 and 97 Manor St, Chelsea, London 1871-1886. Statue founders in bronze and iron, iron and brass founders, smiths and general casting warehouse.

Robert Masefield (1845-1926) was born at Ledbury in Herefordshire in 1845 and died there, age 81, in 1926. According to his proposal form for membership of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1882, he was a pupil of Messrs Ordish & Lefevre, civil engineers of 18 Great George St and was subsequently employed in their drawing office for four years before becoming sub-manager at Holbrook & Co and then, for 12 years, managing partner at the Manor Ironworks (Institution of Civil Engineers Archive, ‘Candidate Circulars’, 1882).

In census records, Masefield was recorded in 1871 at 23 Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, as an iron founder, in 1881 at 105 Manor St as a civil and mechanical engineer, unmarried, employing 99 men, a substantial business, and in 1891 at 14 Markham(?) Square, Chelsea as a civil engineer. The business described itself in London directories as statue founders in bronze and iron, iron and brass founders, smiths and general casting warehouse.

Prior to the Manor Iron Foundry becoming the premises of Masefield & Co, it had been in various different ownerships, including those of David Lower, Henry M’Colley and Francis Hocking until 1850, Maurice Hartland Mahon and Thomas Hudson Holbrook, trading as Mahon & Holbrook, founders, smiths and iron merchants, until 1857, and then as Holbrook or Holbrook & Co, still trading in 1872 (London Gazette 7 May 1850, 2 June 1857, 14 December 1869).

Works in bronze: Statues cast by Holbrook & Co include Thomas Woolner’s Lord Palmerston for Palace Yard, 1869 (the statue was replaced by a larger one in 1876) and Marshall Wood’s Queen Victoria, 1869 (Montreal; see Holbrook & Co’s letter, 18 March 1869, National Archives, WORK 20/3/2).

Bronze statues cast by Robert Masefield & Co (# information supplied by Duncan James) include William Brodie's Thomas Graham, 1871, marked: R MASEFIELD & CO/ FOUNDERS (Glasgow, George Square, see Public Sculpture of Glasgow, p.139) and his seated Sir James Simpson, 1877 (#Edinburgh, West Princes St, see Illustrated London News, 9 June 1877, p.547), John Henry Foley’s General Stonewall Jackson, 1874 (Charleston, South Carolina, see Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 24 November 1874) and his equestrian Gen. Sir James Outram, cast 1872/3 (#Calcutta, Government House, see Illustrated London News, 2 August 1873, pp.113-4) and his equestrian Lord Gough, completed by Thomas Brock, cast 1878 (#Dublin, Phoenix Park, now in store, see Art Journal, November 1878, p.222), Thomas Woolner’s Lord Lawrence, 1874 (Calcutta, see Bradford Observer 14 November 1874) and Lord Palmerston, 1875 (Houses of Parliament, see Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 6 February 1875), Amelia Hill’s David Livingstone, 1876 (#Edinburgh, Princes St, see The Scotsman 16 August 1876), Bruce Joy’s John Laird, 1877 (#Birkenhead, Hamilton Square Gdns, see Illustrated London News, 10 November 1877, p.461) and Percy Wood’s Captain Joseph Brant, 1886 (Brantford, Ontario, see Daily News 4 January 1886). The business also supplied dolphin lamp standards in iron for the Albert Embankment and the Victoria Embankment, 1870 (see Public Sculpture of South London, p.22).

Sources: Information on works marked # has kindly been supplied by Duncan James. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

William Matthews, see Deville & Co

Alfred Mazzoni (Alfred Mazzoni & Co 1858), 13 Endell St, Long Acre, London 1852-1855 or later, 7 High St, St Giles 1858-1859, 25 High St 1861-1876, 7 High St 1877-1879, 23 High St 1880-1881, 39 Endell St 1882, 25 Crown St 1883-1884. Statuary 1852, modeller in composition, carton pierre, papier mache, cement, etc by 1867, modeller and plaster cast figure maker, secondhand bookseller and picture dealer from 1881.

Alfred Joseph Mazzoni (c.1827-1884) was christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 1827, the son of Matthew Mazzoni (qv). He married Martha Ann Briggs in 1856 at St Pancras Old Church and died in 1884 in the Holborn district. In census records, he can be found in 1841 living with his father, in 1851 as a visitor at 3 St Martin’s Court, described as a modeller from Italy, age 23, in 1861 at 435 Oxford St as a phrenological bust maker with his wife Martha, a dealer in lamps, and in 1881 as a modeller, age 52, with his son Alfred, a wood carver, age 22, lodging in the house of Charles Target at 23 High St, Bloomsbury.

Mazzoni advertised an 18in-high coloured reduced copy of the bust of William Shakespeare from the monument in Holy Trinity at Stratford, price 21s (The Antiquarian, vol.1, 6 May 1871, p.iv). In the same issue of this magazine, he advertised as the ‘cheapest house in London for garden vases, brackets, reliefs, pedestals, busts, and plaster ornaments of every description. Gilding, bronzing, marbling, and interior decorations, on reasonable terms. Marble, alabaster, terra-cotta, and other works of art restored. Competent artists sent to all parts of the United Kingdom. Masks taken from the living and deceased persons and modelled into busts’. He advertised models relating to contemporary criminal cases from 7 High St, Bloomsbury in 1877 and 1879 (e.g. The Era 26 January 1879). Following his death in 1884, his premises at 25 Crown St were taken over by William Herbert, modeller.

Matthew Mazzoni, 18 Queen St, Bloomsbury, London 1808, 44 Wells St, Marylebone 1813, 27 Princes St, Leicester Square 1815-1816, 44 Old Compton St, Soho 1817-1819, 49 Old Compton St 1820, 377 Strand 1822-1827, 42 Drury Lane 1827-1829, 6 York St, Covent Garden 1831, Holywell St, St Clement Danes 1841, other addresses, see below. Plaster figure maker.

Matthew Mazzoni (1776/81-1847) was in England by c.1803 and possibly before. He married twice, to Mary Pare in 1804 and, declared as a bachelor, to Hannah Pemberton in 1812, with witnesses Jacob Torck and William Robinson (‘Register of Marriages of St Marylebone 1809-1812’, Publications of the Harleian Society: Registers, vol.57, 1927, p.91). By his second marriage, he had sons Francis, baptised 1813, Matthew O’Neil, baptised 1826, who can be found in the 1840s practising as a modeller, and Alfred Joseph, baptised 1827, also a modeller (see above).

In January 1806, Matthew Mazzoni was tried and acquitted of stealing an Egyptian plaster figure and two other plaster figures, total value £4.2s, the property of John Hamilton, statuary and mason, of 162 Sloane St, Chelsea (Old Bailey). According to Hamilton, Mazzoni had been employed by him as a journeyman from 31 July 1804 until November 1805 at 30s a week plus task work, also stating that Mazzoni had previously worked for Mr Blore (presumably Robert Blore senr or junr), while Mazzoni claimed that he had moved to Hamilton’s under the ‘colour’ of a partnership.

In 1808 ‘Mazon, plaster figure maker’, presumably Matthew Mazzoni, was at 18 Queen St, Bloomsbury, when Henry Morrell insured these premises (Guildhall Library, Records of Sun Fire Office, vol.447 no.821467). He first appears in London directories as I.M. Mazzoni at 27 Princes St, Leicester Square in 1815. Mazzoni was imprisoned for debt in 1831 as a plaster figure maker, formerly of 44 Drury Lane, then of 6 York St, Covent Garden, and late of 3 New Church Court, Strand, and also of 400 Strand (London Gazette 22 November 1831). In the 1841 census, he was listed in Holywell St, St Clement Danes, as an artist, born overseas, age 60 (ages were rounded down to the nearest five in this census), together with his wife Ann, age 40, and five children. He died in 1847 in the St Giles district.

Works in sculpture: In November 1815, Benjamin Robert Haydon used ‘Mazzoni’ to make moulds of some of the Elgin Marbles, pushing him and his workmen to complete the work in as short a time as possible, worried that his permission would be revoked; in July the following year Mazzoni’s name occurs again in Haydon’s diary in a discussion between Haydon and David Wilkie concerning figures for the Edinburgh Academy (W.B. Pope, The Diary of Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1963, vol.1, pp.479-80, vol.2, p.41). Mazzoni was employed by Richard Westmacott (qv) in making plaster casts of classical marbles in the British Museum, including the Elgin Marbles, in the period 1816-23 and perhaps subsequently (Jenkins 1990 pp.101-5). For five years, much of the moulding work at the Museum was undertaken for Mazzoni by Peter Sarti (qv), according to the latter’s testimony.

In March 1816, Mazzoni began supplying the watercolourist, John Samuel Hayward, with plaster casts from the Elgin marbles and over the next year sold him casts to the considerable sum of £85.12s.6d, including an ‘Elgin bas-relief’ for £1.1s and Theseus and Neptune, as they were described, for £8.8s each (summary listing by Robert Barnes from bills for casts supplied to Hayward, V&A National Art Library, MSL/1943/920C).

In 1835, ‘Mazzoni’ contributed a model of a statue of David Garrick to the vestibule of Drury Lane Theatre (The Times 2 October 1835).

For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Pellegrino Mazzotti, Norwich by 1819, Charing Cross, Norwich by 1830, Goat Lane, Norwich 1830, 1836, 1839, Bull Lane, Ely 1850, Cambridge 1851, Wisbech 1842, by 1854 and probably to 1879. Sculptor and modeller.

Pellegrino Mazzotti (c.1794-1879) was born at Coreglia near Lucca. He settled in Norwich in or before 1819 (Walker 1985 p.135). His premises seem to have been situated in the front part of Strangers’ Hall, in Charing Cross, St John Maddermarket, the rear part of which was occupied by a priest or priests who ministered at the nearby Roman Catholic chapel. This arrangement was described as early as 1829 by the historian, John Chambers, who also identified that Mazzottti’s busts and vases ornamented many Norwich residences (John Chambers, A General History of the County of Norfolk, vol.3, 1829, p.1173, accessed through Google Book Search). Mazzotti’s life and works have been studied by Kristel De Wulf, to whom this account is indebted.

Pellegrino Mazzotti married Mary Leeds in February 1822 at St John Maddermarket. They had four daughters, Maria, Caroline, Teresa and Rosina. There are various references to individuals by the name of Mazzotti or Mazzotte in Norwich until as late as 1861. Pellegrino Mazzotti seems to have separated from his family, perhaps in about 1840. In census records, in 1841 his wife and children are listed in Norwich without him, in 1851 he appears as an artist, age 58, lodging in Cambridge, in 1861 as a modelling artist, age 65, born Coreglia in Tuscany, lodging in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, and in 1871 as Pilgrim Mazzotti, an artist and widower, age 76, still lodging in Wisbech. He died in the workhouse in Wisbech on 22 October 1879, age 85.

There was a James Mazotti (c.1804-1849), plaster figure maker, in Cambridge in 1846, who died age 45 in the workhouse in 1849. He was followed by Edmund Leeds, plaster figure maker, who was born in Norwich and may have been related to Pellegrino Mazzotti’s wife, Mary (as proposed by Kristel De Wulf).

Works in sculpture: Mazzotti’s work can be linked to Norwich, Cambridge and Wisbech. Information on some works has been supplied by Kristel De Wulf.

In Norwich, he used his trade card as an artist, engraved locally, to advertise, ‘Busts taken from the living and dead and executed at the shortest notice. Figures, &c repaired, cleaned & bronzed in the neatest manner’, also offering to repair alabaster, china and marble ornaments (Heal coll., 106.18, see Roscoe 2009 p.824). He exhibited various busts at the Norwich Society of Artists in 1821, 1822, 1828 and 1829, the subjects including Capt. Parry, Dr Rigby, Philip Taylor and John Crome in 1821, John Taylor, Sarjeant Blossett, T.W. Coke MP and the late Dr Rigby in 1822 and the Bishop of Norwich in 1828. There are plaster busts of Nelson, Bathurst, Shakespeare and Wesley by Mazzotti in the Norwich Castle Museum, that of Shakespeare inscribed ‘Mazzotti fecit Norwich 1838’, together with death masks of Napoleon and of convicted Norwich murderers (Walker 1985 p.135). Other works include a ‘painted terracotta’ of Bishop Bathurst, 1820, and a small painted unidentified judge or ecclesiastic (Roscoe 2009 p.824), a plaster bust, John Crome, c.1820 (National Portrait Gallery, see Walker 1985 p.135, version Norwich Castle Museum) and a bust, The Duke of Wellington, 1830, marked: P. Mazzotti, Goat Lane, Norwich, 1830 (Norwich Evening News, 31 July 1956).

In Cambridge, there are works in plaster by Mazzotti, whether by Pellegrino or James, in local collections. These include a death mask of an unidentified woman, contained in a box marked: Sig. Mazzotti fecit 1834 (St John’s College) and two casts after busts by Roubiliac, Sir Francis Bacon, marked: Mazzotti Fecit, and Sir Isaac Newton, scratched: T.I. Mazzotti Fecit/ Amundti(?) 1836 (English Faculty Board Library, see J.W. Goodison, Catalogue of Cambridge Portraits: The University Collection, 1955, pp.72-3). The attribution to Mazzotti of another bust, George Basevi (Fitzwilliam Museum) cannot be sustained. Both Pellegrino and James (perhaps a brother or a cousin) are documented in Cambridge, while ‘T.I. Mazzotti’ is otherwise unrecorded.

In Wisbech, Mazzotti produced a bust, Admiral Lord Nelson, marked: P. Mazzotti Fecit, Wisbech 1854 (destroyed; bronze cast sold by Toovey’s auctioneers, West Sussex, 30 January 2009 lot 2601). Mazzotti gave a death mask of Napoleon and a medallion, Napoleon at Arcola, to the Wisbech Museum in 1842, and a plaster bust, Prof. Poison, in 1855. Wisbech & Fenland Museum also owns his plaster busts, Rev. Henry Fardell, 1854 (first President of Wisbech Museum), Thomas Clarkson, 1855, and William Shakespeare, as well as a set of twelve casts from carving in All Saints church, Elm, by 1857.

Sources: Information kindly supplied by Kristel De Wulf on Pellegrino Mazzotti’s studio, his Norwich Society exhibits, marriage and four daughters, the Wellington bust, works in Cambridge and Wisbech collections and his death certificate, and on James Mazotti and Edmund Leeds. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Fernando Meacci, London by 1863, 53 Cale St, Chelsea by 1881-1893. Piece moulder and figure maker.

Fernando Meacci (c.1836-1893) worked for various leading sculptors in Chelsea as a sculptors’ moulder in the late 1880s and early 1890s. In the 1881 census, he was recorded at 53 Cale St, Chelsea, as a figure modeller, age 45, born in Italy, with his English-born wife, Mary, a son James, a modeller’s apprentice, age 17, and a daughter Louisa, age 9, both born in London, suggesting that Meacci was in England by 1863, when he would have been about 26 or 27. Meacci was one of three moulders, along with Ferdinando Lucchesi and T. Millon, recommended by the sculptor E. Roscoe Mullins in 1889 (E. Roscoe Mullins, A Primer of Sculpture, 1889, p.21). At this time Meacci was calling himself a piece moulder and figure maker on his invoice paper. He died in 1893, age 56, in the Chelsea district. His estate was valued at £987.0s.4d.

Meacci’s work in waste and piece moulding, preparing gelatine moulds, casting in plaster and wax, painting and bronzing, and squeezing in clay between 1886 and his death in 1893, can be traced from his account book and associated copy invoices (see Sources below). His most important customers were the leading sculptors, Edward Onslow Ford and Alfred Gilbert. Other customers were George Cowell, Fountain Elwin, Thomas Essex, Edward Geflowski, Miss Mary Grant, Captain Harrison, Thomas Maclean, Briton Riviere and, occasionally, Gustav Natorp and ‘Mr Singer’, the latter presumably one of the partners in J.W. Singer & Sons (qv).

Meacci would undertake waste moulding, chipping out the mould to reveal the cast within and, for larger works, piece moulding and making joints, sometimes called roman joints, to allow a mould to be joined in pieces. Meacci would arrange for the transport of sculpture from one part of London to another and occasionally further afield. On occasion, he would arrange for the firing of sculpture, presumably in clay, including going to Doulton’s for two dogs to be fired for Thomas Maclean in 1888 and to Fulham Pottery for a statuette to be baked for Edward Geflowski in 1890 and for a small head of Irving and another work to be fired for Onslow Ford in 1891. He went to the ‘pottery’ to bake a large cup with figures round it for Alfred Gilbert in 1892.

The following details derive from Meacci’s account book and associated copy invoices. This documentation warrants further study.

Work for Edward Onslow Ford: For Edward Onslow Ford, between December 1886 and September 1893, Meacci undertook a great variety of work. He moved Ford’s studio contents from his old studio in Fulham to 62 Acacia Road, St Johns Wood, in January 1887. He cast a bust of Arthur Balfour in plaster in April 1887 and then in wax the following month, presumably related to Ford’s Grosvenor Gallery exhibit that year. He was paid for ‘taking a head from a dead man, & also his hand’ for £1.15s in 1887. He waste moulded a bust of the Lord Mayor, James Whitehead, and made a gelatine mould and cast two copies, totalling £6.10s in 1889, as well as working on a companion bust of the Lady Mayoress.

Meacci performed considerable work on Ford’s memorial images of General Gordon, most notably for General Gordon on a Camel, which was cast in bronze by J.W. Singer & Sons (qv). For this sculpture, he undertook one of his most expensive jobs, for £82 on 24 January 1889, ‘To waste moulding a large Statue of a Camel cast & chipped out & making some roman joints including material labour and all expenses’. Meacci also assisted with a statuette of Gordon in 1887 and a bust in 1888. He undertook work relating to camel mouldings and castings in 1887 and 1888 including ‘Going to the Zoological Gardens & Moulding 2 legs & head of a camel from nature, cast & chipped out’ for £6.10s including expenses in 1888.

Work for Alfred Gilbert: On his return to England in 1884 or 1885, Alfred Gilbert took a studio in the complex at The Avenue in Fulham Road, close to his master Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, and also to his fellow sculptor and friend Onslow Ford. Meacci worked for Gilbert extensively from at least June 1886 until April 1893, even providing a man to act as Gilbert’s studio assistant from mid-1889 to mid-1890, at the considerable cost of £152 with materials. For a sculptor like Gilbert, whose work is made up of many small intricate parts, the interest of the Meacci account book is that it allows one to follow some of the intricacies of the creative and construction process of major works such as the Memorial to Henry Fawcett, completed 1887 (Westminster Abbey), the Jubilee Memorial to Queen Victoria, completed 1887 (Winchester Castle), the early stages of the Memorial to the Earl of Shaftesbury (‘Eros’), begun 1886 (Piccadilly Circus) and the beginnings of the Tomb of the Duke of Clarence, begun 1892 (Albert Memorial Chapel, Windsor). In the following account, Richard Dorment’s Alfred Gilbert, 1985, provides the basis for dating Gilbert’s commissions while Meacci’s account book gives the date for individual components.

For Gilbert’s Fawcett Memorial, Meacci made various charges in 1886: taking it down in June, casting in wax the seated figure of the reaper [‘Brotherhood’] and six ornamental brackets in September, casting in wax two statuettes of a seated figure and piece moulding Fawcett’s head and the figures with a beehive [‘Industry’] and sword [‘Justice’] in October, casting in wax two statuettes of ‘Industry’, two of ‘Justice’, one of ‘Zeal’ and masks of Fawcett in November and, in January 1887, moulding a small head of Fawcett in relief and casting two copies in wax and going to Westminster to help in fixing the memorial.

For Gilbert’s Queen Victoria Memorial in 1887, Meacci charged for waste moulding the Queen at £8 in February, waste moulding a large statue of the Queen sitting in a chair for £35 in April, moulding a piece of ornament for the Queen’s chair and casting three copies in May, waste moulding a small angel on a ball in June perhaps for the memorial or for the figure, Victory (later example, Ashmolean Museum), making a gelatine mould of a small victory and casting one copy in plaster and two in wax for £3.10s in July, waste moulding Britannia (the small statue at the rear of the memorial) and the two seated statues on top of the Queen’s chair in August. He also charged for casting and moulding the Art Union jubilee medal of the Queen in February 1887 (examples, finished medal in bronze, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum) and a shield of the Queen in April 1887. The following year, in 1888, the full-scale plaster was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and in preparation Meacci put the plaster together in March, polishing it and taking it to the Academy in April. He undertook further work including making a gelatine mould of a small bust of the Queen and casting four copies in December 1892.

For Gilbert’s Shaftesbury Memorial, Meacci charged for work on a sketch in October 1888 and for piece moulding ‘a quarter of the large Fountain’, for casting eight copies in plaster and fixing them together with Roman joints at the very considerable sum of £130 in July 1889 and for work on panels for the fountain in 1890.

For Gilbert’s Clarence Tomb in 1892, Meacci charged for making a gelatine mould of a statuette of the Duke, casting four copies and waxing them for £12 in May. He also waste moulded two medals and made a gelatine mould of one of the Duke and cast one copy for £3.10s in October and made further moulds and cast two copies in November. It is worth noting the survival of a bronzed wax model on a plaster base, dated to 1892 (Victoria and Albert Museum, see Bilbey 2002 p.279, no.427).

Meacci’s portrait work for Gilbert included waste moulding a bust of Robert Glassby in April 1887 and casting a copy in plaster and another in wax in December 1887, making a gelatine mould of Gilbert’s friend, the landscape painter Matthew Ridley Corbet’s earlier medal and casting four copies in plaster and four in wax in September 1887 (earlier bronze example, Musée d’Orsay, Paris), casting in wax a bust of a gentleman with a ‘heavy moustache’ in June 1887 and waste moulding a bust of the artist, G.F. Watts in October 1888 (finished bronze, Tate).

Meacci waste moulded ‘a bass relievo of flowers’ for Gilbert in April 1888 for £3.10s and moulded a snake from nature the following month, probably for the Memorial to William Graham, 1886-91 (Glasgow Cathedral). Meacci’s papers also include a note of a large group of the mermaid, supplied to the Duchess of Bedford in November 1892, which he took to Woburn Abbey, joining it together and painting it, as well as transporting there a terracotta group on a large ebonised plinth, at a cost to Alfred Gilbert of £26.10s (2683/002/1). Whether this mermaid group can be linked to model of a kneeling figure on the back of a mermaid in the Victoria and Albert Museum requires further exploration (Bilbey 2002 p.280 dates the model to c.1892 on the basis of a possible link with the Clarence tomb).

Work for other sculptors: For George Cowell at 4 Carlyle Studios, 296 King’s Road, Chelsea, Meacci undertook several jobs between June 1888 and January 1893, most expensively for £14 in March 1889, ‘To waste moulding a large group cast & chipped out…’ (a statuette of Babes in a Cradle). The previous year, in June and July 1888, there are four successive entries for a female bust: for waste moulding it at 15s, piece moulding at £2.10s and squeezing twice, at 14s a time, the second time specified as in clay. In 1890 he charged for waste moulding a statue, The Death of First Born, later removing it from the Royal Academy and painting it a terracotta colour. He also charged for painting a group with a donkey a terracotta colour.

Edward Geflowski (spelt ‘Geploskie’ by Meacci), a customer from July 1887 to October 1893, was recorded at 428 Fulham Road, and then in August 1890 at 27 Trafalgar Square, Chelsea. Meacci undertook waste and piece moulding for lifesize and small busts in 1887 and 1888, waste moulding a statuette of the Queen, charged at £10 on 24 December 1887, as well as piece moulding a Sailor Boy and casting six copies in plaster for £5 in 1888.

For Mary Grant at Camwell House, 29 Tite St, Chelsea, December 1888 to April 1893, Meacci’s most expensive job at £10 on 26 August 1889 concerned collecting a large relief from Tite St, providing a waste mould, casting and chipping it out, and then removing it to Lambeth. Other work described in general terms included in 1888 casting and chipping out a death mask and a hand, in 1889 and subsequently waste moulding, casting and chipping out busts and reliefs, as well as supplying pedestals for busts and moulding, and in 1891 casting and chipping out a hand and a portion of an arm from nature. In 1892 he undertook waste moulding, casting and chipping out a bust of [Charles Stewart] Parnell, subsequently making a gelatine mould and supplying three copies (an example in plaster is in the National Portrait Gallery).

For the animal painter Briton Riviere at 82 Finchley Road Meacci undertook several commissions between February 1888 and April 1893, most expensively ‘piece moulding a tiger’ in 1888 for £6. He undertook work on a tiger, 1888-89, 1891 and 1893 and on a lion in 1890. He also charged for going to the Zoological Gardens in 1888 to waste mould four legs and one head of a wolf.

Meacci’s limited work for ‘Mr Singer’ in June 1888 may indicate that he was acting as a sub-contractor for J.W. Singer & Sons (qv). The entry for the more expensive item, at £10, reads ‘To Making two Piece Moulds of a statuette of the reeper one for running the wax one for the core & supplying a case & packing the same…’.

Meacci worked for other sculptors. In alphabetical order: Fountain Elwin, October 1887-May 1888, undertaking minor casting and transport work; T[homas?] Essex from October 1887 to March 1891, supplying anatomical figures, including a horse and a lion, and other minor work; Captain Harrison, 11 Holland Park Road, in February 1888, making a gelatine mould of a child on a cushion and casting four copies in terracotta colour for £9; Thomas Nelson Maclean, 13 Bruton St, September 1888 to August 1893, including piece moulding and waste moulding a statue of an Indian in March 1889, waste moulding a large statue made with several roman joints for £35 in January 1892 and piece moulding a marble bust, Robert Burns, in May 1893; and Gustav Natorp of 70 Ennismore Gardens from February to November 1888, including ‘squeezing a female bust’ for £1.

Work for museums: Meacci undertook some work for regional museums at the instigation of the South Kensington Museum, in particular in 1886 he supplied Bradford Art Museum with a cast of a Virgin and Child relief (Victoria and Albert Museum), then thought to be by an Italian Renaissance artist but now considered to be a forgery, and he made a piece mould and cast of John Flaxman’s marble statue, William Pitt, in Glasgow Museum in 1890 for £80, with the intention of making casts for Dublin and Edinburgh (Victoria and Albert Museum Archive, A0319, vol.1, and Meacci nominal file, MA/1/M1692).

Sources: Meacci’s account book and associated copy invoices, 1886-93 (London Metropolitan Archives, ACC/2683/001, 2683/002). For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Vincent Merchitti (or Marchetti), see Louis Brugiotti

Meridian Bronze Company 1968-1988, Meridian Fine Art Co Ltd 1989-1995 or later, Meridian Sculpture Foundry Ltd 1997-1998, M.S. Meridian Foundry Ltd 1999-2001. At Greenwich, London c.1966, Pontypool Place, Blackfriars Road, SE1 1968, 39a Consort Road (Arch 837), Peckham, SE15 3SS 1971-1995 or later, The Arches, Consort Road 1998-2001. Bronze sculpture founders.

The Meridian foundry was run by Jack and Megan Crofton. It is said to have been established in about 1966 or 1967 in Greenwich (James 1971 p.87). In 1968 it advertised as sculpture founders from Pontypool Place, Blackfriars Road (Society of Portrait Sculptors, 16th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1968), moving in 1969 to premises adjacent to Corinthian Bronze Foundry (qv) in Consort Road, Peckham, and then apparently into Corinthian's premises by 1971, following Corinthian's closure.

When Duncan James visited the foundry in about 1970, as part of a series of visits to bronze foundries, he identified Jack Crofton, previously with Galizia (qv), as heading the foundry team, and Bill Payne, an expert metal worker, as being responsible for the chasing shop (James 1971 p.87, reproducing a photograph showing a crucible of bronze being transferred from the furnace). At that time, the business was using the lost wax technique but had plans to extend into sand casting for the production of very large bronzes, perhaps as a result of changes at the Corinthian Bronze Foundry. James saw Franta Belsky’s imposing bronze statue, Sir Winston Churchill, in production for Fulton, Missouri, as well as a full size Chesterfield sofa, cast for Clive Barker.

Meridian advertised in 1978 as ‘Sculpture Founders. Castings in sand and lost wax', illustrating the staff of the foundry in front of James Butler's outsize statue, President Kenyatta, for Nairobi (Society of Portrait Sculptors, 25th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1978, p.38).

In 1998, the company’s directors, as given on its notepaper, were Mr J.A. Crofton and Mrs G.M. Crofton (Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, 2005.456/C/4/1). The foundry was bought out by Morris Singer (qv) about this time, with the Croftons remaining as managers for a short while. The business’s new name, M.S. Meridian Foundry, presumably was chosen to reflect Morris Singer’s ownership.

Works in bronze: The foundry worked for many sculptors including Ivor Robert-Jones, Franta Belsky and James Butler.

Works by Ivor Robert-Jones, from 1966 onwards, include Mrs Griffiths second version, figure, 1966 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), Sir Winston Churchill, statue, 1973-4 (Parliament Square, see The Times 12 September 1974), Oliver Lyttelton 1st Viscount Chandos, head, unveiled 1980, marked: MERIDIAN/ LONDON/ BRONZE (Lyttelton Theatre, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.85), George Thomas, Viscount Tonypandy, head, exh.1982, marked: MERIDIAN/ LONDON/ BRONZE (National Portrait Gallery) and Sir Nicholas Goodison, head, 1990, cast 1992, with foundry mark (National Portrait Gallery). Roberts-Jones’s archive provides further documentation on the casting of his work (Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, 2005.456/C/4/1).

Franta Belsky is said to have used Meridian from at least 1969 and their letters to him, 1978-88, mainly from Jack Crofton, can be found in Belsky’s papers (Henry Moore Institute, 2001.94/I/4). Examples of Belsky’s work in public locations include Winston Churchill, statue, 1969 (Fulton, Missouri), Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, head, 1979, marked: Meridian/ LONDON/ Bronze (National Portrait Gallery), Queen Elizabeth II, head, 1981 (National Portrait Gallery; 2nd cast of 9, St Thomas’ Hospital, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.46-7), Earl Mountbatten of Burma, statue, 1983 (off Horse Guards Parade, see The Times 8 September 1983) and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, head, 1984, marked: Meridian London Bronze (National Portrait Gallery). Other works mentioned in Belsky’s correspondence with the foundry include portrait heads, Thelma Wade, 1979, and Harry S. Truman, 1979; Three Rearing Horses, 1980; Winston Churchill, plaque, 1980; Sir John Methuen, 1980; Queen Elizabeth, 1982-3; 'Torso', 1983; Winston Churchill, bust, 1984; Prince William, 1986; John Piper, 1987 (Henry Moore Institute, 2001.94/I/4).

Works by James Butler, from 1973 onwards, include President Kenyatta, 1973 (Nairobi, Kenya, see above and Public Sculpture of South London, p.449), Burton Cooper, 1977 (Burton-upon-Trent, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.449), King Richard III, 1980 (Leicester, Castle Gardens, see Public Sculpture of Leicestershire and Rutland, p.81), Field Marshall Alexander, statue, 1985 (Wellington Barracks, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.449) and John Wilkes, 1988 (Fetter Lane, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.106).

Works by other sculptors from the 1960s and 1970s include Michael Ayrton’s Icarus III, 1960-2, cast later, marked: CAST BY/ MERIDIAN BRONZE Co/ LONDON (Old Change Court, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.293), Ghisha Koenig’s Reliefs: London, 1966, and Tent Makers I, 1978 (Royal Festival Hall, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.366), John Poole’s Bronze Doors, 1973-5 (Monument Yard, Moorgate, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.269), Elizabeth Frink’s Paternoster, 1975, marked: CAST BY/ MERIDIAN BRONZE Co/ LONDON (Paternoster Square) and William Turnbull’s Mask 1, 1979, marked: … MERIDIAN/ LONDON/ BRONZE (Sotheby’s 5 December 2001 lot 149).

From the 1980s and subsequently, Paul Hamann’s life-masks, Sir Noël Coward and Aldous Huxley, both 1930, cast 1981, marked: MERIDIAN / LONDON (National Portrait Gallery), Kevin Atherton’s Three Bronze Deckchairs, 1983 (for International Garden Festival, Liverpool, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.449), John Ravera’s In Town, 1982-3 (Battersea Bridge Road, SW11, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.282), Dolphin Fountain, 1987 (Barbican, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.449) and the bust, John Rennie, 1992 (Wapping, Spirit Quay, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.449), Siegfried Charoux’s The Cellist, 1959, replacement in bronze 1984 (Lambeth, Queen’s Walk, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.360), Maurice Lambert’s aluminium head, Edith Sitwell, c.1926-7, cast 1985 (example National Portrait Gallery, see Benedict Read and Peyton Skipwith, Sculpture in Britain between the Wars, exh.cat., 1986, no.72), Jonathan Kenworthy’s The Leopard, 1985 (Cannon St, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.60), Brian Yale’s Great Oaks From Little Acorns Grow, 1987 (Southwalk, Gatehouse Square, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.262), Alan Thornhill’s Load, 1988-9, marked: MERIDIAN/ LONDON/ BRONZE (Wandsworth, Lower Richmond Road, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.311) and Michael Rizzello’s bust, James Walker, 1988, marked: MERIDIAN/ LONDON/ BRONZE (Rotherhithe, Greenland Dock, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.253).

From the 1990s, John Mills’ Blitz: The National Firefighters' Memorial, 1990-1, marked: CAST BY/ MERIDIAN/ LONDON (Sermon Lane, City of London, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.392), Alfred Gilbert’s bust, John Hunter, replica c.1991 (St George’s Hospital, Tooting, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.318), Diane Gorvin’s Dr Salter’s Daydream, 1990-1 (Southwark, Bermondsey Wall East, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.174-6), Peter McLean’s Sunbeam Weekly and the Pilgrim’s Pocket, 1991 (Rotherhithe, Cumberland Wharf, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.251), Ivan Klapez’s Unity, 1992 (London Wall, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.235), Philip Bews, Diane Gorvin, Nathan David, Althea Wynne and Marjan Wouda’s David, part of Barnard’s Wharf Animals, 1992 (Rotherhithe, Barnard’s Wharf, other figures by other founders, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.248), William Pye’s bust, Douglas Hurd, Baron Hurd, with foundry mark (National Portrait Gallery) and Laura Ford’s Nature Girls, 1995 (Rotherhithe, Surrey Water, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.257).

Trading as MS Meridian, Nigel Boonham’s outsize Archbishop Mannix, c.1999 (Society of Portrait Sculptors, 36th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1999, p.53) and Rick Kirby's figures for Southern Arch, 1999-2000 (Glasgow, Castlemilk, Carmunnock Road, see Public Sculpture of Glasgow, p.50).

Sources: Terry Cavanagh, Public Sculpture of South London, 2007, pp.xvii, 449. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

T. Millon, see Fernando Meacci

Moore, Fressange & Moore, 21 Brownlow Mews, Guildford St, London 1848, 10 Baldwin’s Place, Leather Lane 1849-1853. Bronze founders.

Little is known of Moore, Fressange & Moore, a short-lived partnership active from 1848 to 1852. Peter Fressange, chaser, was listed as a partner in the business in 1849, and the other partners were John Moore and James Moore, perhaps brothers. There is no evidence of a connection with James John Moore, manager and, from 1882, joint owner, as Moore & Co, of the Thames Ditton Foundry (qv), but who would have been only 22 in 1848, nor to his father, John Moore, engineer.

The partnership collapsed when the partners were charged with fraud over the casting of the bronze reliefs for Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square. In August 1852 the Office of Woods was informed anonymously that the business had been fraudulent in respect of the purity of the bronze, a fraud which led to the trial and imprisonment of the partners in 1853 (The Times 5 July 1853, misnaming the defendants as Moon and Tressange). Apparently, the informant was a former employee, who had seduced and gone away with Fressange’s wife, both of whom left the country for Australia (see Rodney Mace, Trafalgar Square: emblem of empire, 1976, pp.104-7).

The case is well documented in the National Archives (WORK 20/3/1, items 103, 124, 152, 262, 280, 311). Moore, Fressange & Moore put in estimates in 1848. Their use of iron in place of bronze to reach the expected weight in Musgrave Watson’s relief, Battle of St Vincent, was anonymously denounced on 20 August 1852. Two French workmen came forward as witnesses, Messrs Cabrat and Veniat, as correspondence in September 1852 and January 1853 reveals. The unfinished relief was then purchased by and finished by Robinson & Cottam (qv) in 1853-4.

Fressange is Pierre Antoine Fressange (c.1816-1886), whose arrival at Dover is recorded on 10 July 1843, when he was described as a brass founder, travelling with Louis Perry or Berry (Returns of Alien Passengers). He married Catherine Gambette at St Anne Soho in 1846, when his father was named as Marie(?) Antoine Fressange, brass founder. By 1858, Fressange was listed as a gold and silver caster at 60 Poland St. In census records, he was recorded in 1871 at 60 Frith St as a bronze caster, age 55, with his wife, Julie, and four children, and in 1881 at Portsmouth Road, Long Ditton, Surrey, as a bronze founder, age 64, born Paris. His location in 1881 at Long Ditton may suggest a connection by this time with the Thames Ditton Foundry (qv). He died age 70 in 1886 in the Pancras district. Another member of the family, Victor Fressange, was recorded in the 1881 census as a bronze modeller, age 57, living at 80 Hampstead Road.

Works in sculpture: Few examples of Moore, Fressange & Moore’s work are recorded. They include John Ternouth’s relief, Bombardment of Copenhagen, 1848, and W.F. Woodington’s relief, Battle of the Nile, 1848, cast in five pieces, erected 1850, both marked: MOORE, FRESSANGE, & MOORE. FOUNDERS (both Nelson’s Column, Trafalgar Square, see Morning Post 4 March 1850 and Essex Standard 22 November 1850), as well as J.E. Thomas’s statue, Henri de Londres, Archbishop of Dublin, 1852 (House of Lords, see The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal‎, vol.17, 1854, p.85, accessed through Google Book Search). The foundry made iron castings of The Dogs of Alcibiades, Diana attiring and a Candelabra (Robert Hunt, A descriptive guide to the Museum of Practical Geology, 2nd ed., 1859, p.73, accessed through Google Book Search).

For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

Moore & Co, 1882-97, see Thames Ditton Foundry

The Morris Art Bronze Foundry 1921-1929, Morris Singer Co 1927-1949, Morris Singer Co Ltd 1950-1965, Morris Singer Foundry Ltd 1966-1990, Tallix Morris Singer Ltd 1990-1992, Morris Singer Foundry Ltd 1992-1993, Morris Singer Ltd by 1995-2005, Morris Singer Art Founders 2005-2010. At 60-66 Rochester Row, SW1 1921-1931, 123 Dorset Road, South Lambeth, London SW8, 1932-1966, Ferry Lane Works, Forest Road, Walthamstow, London E17 1943-1968, Bond Close, Kingsland, Basingstoke, Hampshire 1967-1998, Highfield Industrial Estate, Church Lane, Lasham, Hampshire GU34 5SQ 1999-2005, 9 Swinborne Drive, Springwood Industrial Estate, Braintree, Essex CM7 2YP 2006-2010. London office/studio at Hope House, Great Peter St, Westminster c.1950-1965, 18 South Parade, Chelsea 1968-1978, 2 Rossetti Studios, Flood St, Chelsea 1976- 1980. Bronze founders and architectural metalworkers.

The history of the Morris Art Bronze Foundry and of the subsequent Morris Singer business has been traced in some detail by Duncan James, to whom this account is indebted (see Sources below, cited here as James 1984). Despite various changes in ownership, Morris Singer was the leading foundry in Britain for much of the 20th century, certainly after the demise of A.B. Burton (qv) at Thames Ditton in 1939.

The Morris Art Bronze Foundry was set up in Lambeth in 1921 by Leonard Grist (1879-1964) with financial backing from William Morris & Co (Westminster) Ltd, specialists in ornamental metalwork and stained glass. Grist had previously been foreman at J.W. Singer’s Frome foundry (qv), which, with its rival, A.B. Burton, was a source of labour for the new foundry. However, Grist left the Morris Art Bronze Foundry in 1925 to set up the Corinthian Bronze Foundry (qv). In 1927, Singer’s sold off the art foundry part of its business to William Morris & Co (Westminster) Ltd, which renamed its foundry the Morris Singer Company.

Morris Singer Co became part of the Pollard Group in 1935 (James 1984 p.23). Morris Singer Co Ltd’s trade catalogue of about 1950 shows the range of their activities, which are grouped by category: Statuary, Balustrades, Doors, Grilles, Gates and Grilles, Details, and Bronze plaques and Memorial tablets (Architectural Metalwork, 1950 or later, 28pp). Their notepaper in 1953 specified ‘Colossal Statues and Statuettes Tablets and Architectural Bronze Work by Sand & Cire Perdu Process’ and in 1967 ‘Sculpture Founders in non-ferrous & precious metals’ (see Penelope Curtis (ed.), The Sculpture Business: Documents from the Archive, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, 1997, p.20, and Tate Archive, 20034/1/4/240/9). For many years, Morris Singer operated from two sites, Dorset Road in Lambeth as a sculpture foundry and Ferry Lane Works in Walthamstow for various castings (James 1984 p.24).

The business moved to a new foundry off Reading Road in Basingstoke in 1967, with a London studio at 18 South Parade, Chelsea (The Times 12 June 1967). It remained within the Pollard Group until 1970 when ownership was transferred to a private trust company maintained by Percy Matthews and the Hon. Jacob Rothschild (James 1984 p.30). It advertised in 1970 as the most advanced sculpture foundry in the world (Studio International, vol.179, June 1970, p.xxiii).

When Duncan James visited the foundry in about 1970, as part of a series of visits to bronze foundries, he describe its light and spacious buildings at the new site in Basingstoke (James 1971 p.87, reproducing a photograph of finishing work on a bronze cast). He met with Eric Gibbard, director, and G.E. Knell, foreman in the sand foundry, who had worked with Corinthian Bronze (qv) until 1956. For smaller works, the business employed lost wax, using a patent ceramic shell process to form the mould. In 1974, Morris Singer’s directors were P. Matthews (chairman), Eric L. Gibbard (managing director), F.B. Barnes, J.M.S. Walter and D.B. Ball (associate director) and the foundry manager, A. Markwell (see Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, Thornycroft archive, item 592, foundry correspondence with Mrs W.O. Manning). Both Gibbard and Ball left Morris Singer to set up the Burleighfield foundry (qv) in 1976.

On 31 January 1973, the business merged with the leading Paris founder, Susse Fondeur (The Royal Society of British Sculptors Journal 1971-73, n.d. but c.1974, p.55, advertisement). An exhibition of small modern works from the two foundries, Bronze, Silver & Gold, was held at the Alwin Gallery in London in August 1973. However, this merger was not sustained in the longer term.

In 1982, the business advertised its ‘large and small castings in bronze and aluminium by cire perdue & sand processes’ and claimed that technical refinements now allowed for the reproduction of ‘even the most minutely textured concept to a finish which virtually eliminates the need for chasing’, also promoting ‘a new method of negative moulding’ which made possible very keenly priced editions (Society of Portrait Sculptors, 29th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1982).

Morris Singer Foundry Ltd was reported to be brought to the Unlisted Securities Market as William Morris Fine Arts in 1984 (Observer 15 April 1984). In 1988, their notepaper described the business as ‘The World’s Largest Professional Art Foundry’ (Tate Archive, 20034/1/4/240/140). Between 15 March 1990 and 15 January 1992 the foundry traded as Tallix Morris Singer Ltd, part of Bullers plc, ‘the fine art and sculpture foundry group’, which included premises in Basingstoke, Beacon NY, Birmingham and Toronto (see announcement sent to Kenneth Armitage, Tate Archive, 20034/1/4/240).

The business was put into receivership in 1993 (London Gazette 7 December 1993, 15 February 1994) and met with subsequent financial problems. It moved to Lasham in Hampshire in 1999, publishing an illustrated notice, featuring works by Elizabeth Frink, Philip Jackson, Henry Moore and Michael Sandle, and announcing that the new foundry would be fully operational from March 1999 (V&A National Art Library, Information File).

At the end of 2005 the Morris Singer name was acquired by Art Founders Ltd, and Morris Singer Art Founders moved to Nautilus’s premises at Braintree, Essex. Morris Singer, Nautilus and Burleighfield were trading names of Art Founders Ltd (see advertisement, Society of Portrait Sculptors, 47th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 2010, p.88). In May 2010, Rod Seaman was Managing Director of Morris Singer Art Founders Ltd, which was 10% owned by Finch Seaman Enfield Group (see www.fsegroup.co.uk/history.htm, accessed May 2010). Morris Singer Art Founders Ltd went into administration again in May 2010. The business’s assets were purchased by Nasser Azam, who has formed a new business, Zahra Modern Art Foundries (The Times 15 June 2010).

Works in sculpture pre-1950 (*listed on the business’s website; **documented through trade catalogue of c.1937, see Sources below).

Works produced by the Morris Art Bronze Foundry in the 1920s, include Percy George Bentham's Dukinfield War Memorial, 1922 (Tameside, Dukinfield, see Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester, p.367), Thomas Brock’s memorial, William Lister, 1922, marked: CAST BY THE MORRIS ART BRONZE FOUNDRY./ LONDON. S.W.8 (Portland Place), Frederick William Pomeroy’s Perseus, 1898, cast c.1924, edition of 3 (James 1984 p.45), John Tweed’s Lord Ronaldshay, c.1924 (Bombay, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.451), Francis Derwent Wood’s Machine Gun Corps Memorial, 1925, guns and figure of David (Hyde Park Corner, see James 1984 pp.21, 35, 46) and George Edward Wade's statues, General William Booth and Catherine Booth, c.1927 (Southwark, Champion Park, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.226-7).

In the following listings, it is not always clear which business was responsible for the production of individual works before the amalgamation of J.W. Singer’s and the Morris Art Bronze Foundry in 1927. Works from the late 1920s include Gertrude Meredith-Williams’ relief frieze for The Scottish War Memorial, completed 1927 (**Edinburgh Castle), Sir Edwin Lutyens’s Mercantile Marine Memorial, 1926-8 (**Tower Hill) and Ferdinand Blundstone’s bust, Samuel Plimsoll, 1929 (*Victoria Embankment).

Works from the 1930s produced by Morris Singer include George Tyson Smith's Liverpool Cenotaph reliefs, 1930, one marked: THE MORRIS-SINGER CO/ LONDON SW1/ FOUNDERS (Liverpool, Lime St, see Public Sculpture of Liverpool, p.98), Alfred Hardiman’s St George, 1930 (*Eltham Palace), his equestrian statue, Earl Haig, 1936-7 (Whitehall, opposite Banqueting Hall, see James 1984 p.23) and his heraldic lions, 1938 (Norwich City Hall, repr. Morris Singer Company, Architectural Metalwork, 1950 or later, p.8), Alfred Drury’s statue, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1931 (Burlington House courtyard, Piccadilly, see James 1984 p.46), Bertram Mackennal’s statue, Lord Curzon, 1931 (*Carlton House Terrace), James Woodford’s doors for the Liverpool School for the Blind, 1931-2 (**Liverpool, Church Road North, see Public Sculpture of Liverpool, p.21) and for the RIBA Building, 1934-5, marked: MORRIS/ SINGER/ COMP. S.W.8./ FOUNDERS (**Portland Place), Raynor Hoff’s relief panel for Anzac War Memorial, completed 1934 (**Sydney, Hyde Park, Australia), Alfred Gilbert’s allegorical figures, Truth? and Religion?, posthumously cast 1935-6 (Private coll., see Dorment 1986 p.198), Ginette Bingguely-Lejeune’s bronze head, Rudyard Kipling, 1936-7 (National Portrait Gallery, this cast?, see RP 2955) and Charles Hartwell’s large-scale memorial, St George and the Dragon, 1937 (**Wellington Road, facing St John’s Wood church, see James 1984 p.47).

By Gilbert Ledward from 1922 onwards, Blackpool War Memorial, 1922-3 (Blackpool), Awakening, 1924 (Chelsea Embankment, see James 1984 pp.35, 45, by Morris Art Foundry), Guards Division Memorial, 1923-6 (Horse Guards Parade, see The Times 12 October 1926), Submarine Service War Memorial, 1946-7 (Westminster Abbey cloister), Venus Fountain, 1949-53 (Sloane Square), St Nicholas 1952, and St Christopher, 1954-5 (Great Ormond St Hospital, see James 1984 p.37), The Seer, 1957 (formerly Mercury House, Knightsbridge). For more details, see Catherine Moriarty, The Sculpture of Gilbert Ledward, 2003, pp.106, 121-3, 126.

By Sir Charles Wheeler from 1924 onwards, Ilford War Memorial, 1924, Spring, 1929-30 (Tate, see James 1984 p.46), five pairs of doors for the Bank of England, 1925-35 (**Threadneedle St), Springbok over entrance of South Africa House, 1933 (**Trafalgar Square), bronze groups for the western Trafalgar Square fountain, 1939, installed 1948 (repr. Morris Singer Company, Architectural Metalwork, 1950 or later, pp.6-7; see also National Archives, WORK 20/9/2), Doors to Barclays Bank, 1950 (Lombard St), St George and the Dragon, c.1950 (Lombard St, see James 1984 p.48), Power, two figures, 1960 (formerly English Electric Building, The Strand, see James 1984 pp.48-9).

By Gilbert Bayes from 1931 onwards, the wall tablet, Ralph Knott, 1931, marked: MORRIS/ SINGER/ Co/ FOUNDERS (**County Hall, now Marriott Hotel, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.106-7), H.G. Selfridge Memorial, 1940 (*Selfridges, Oxford St), Gold Coast Forces War Memorial, 1946-50 (*Accra, Ghana) and the figure and relief, Robert Owen, 1953 (Newtown, Wales). For the last three, see Louise Irvine and Paul Atterbury, Gilbert Bayes: Sculptor 1872-1953, 1998, pp.178, 185, 186).

By Dora Gordine from 1943/4 onwards, numerous works of which the following are examples in the Dorich House Museum, Kingston University (see Jonathan Black and Brenda Martin, Dora Gordine: Sculptor, Designer and Artist, 2008): Aleck Bourne, 1943-5, Dame Beryl Grey, 1954, and Dorothy Tutin in the role of Hedwig, 1956. In other collections, Sir Richard Winstedt, 1943-4 (Royal Asiatic Society), Jasmine, 1948-9 (Indianapolis Museum of Art, one of various works by Gordine in this collection), Lucien Pissarro, 1956-7 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) and Power, 1960, relief (Milford Haven Heritage & Maritime Museum, Pembrokeshire). Gordine had used the Valsuani foundry in Paris until the outbreak of war.

By William Reid Dick, statues from 1944 onwards, the equestrian Lady Godiva, 1944, marked: CAST BY MORRIS SINGER CO (Coventry, Broadgate, see Public Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, pp.124-5), Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1948 (Grosvenor Square, repr. Morris Singer Company, Architectural Metalwork, 1950 or later, pp.4-5), David Livingstone, 1948 (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, see James 1984 p.37) and King George V, 1953 (*Canberra, Parliament Square).

Works by particular sculptors post-1950: By Jacob Epstein from 1953 onwards: Social Consciousness, three figures, 1953-4 (Philadelphia, Fairmount Park, see James 1984 pp.26, 48), Sir Stafford Cripps, bust, 1953-4 (St Paul’s Cathedral, see The Times 27 March 1954), Liverpool Resurgent, 1955-6 (Liverpool, Lewis's Store, see Public Sculpture of Liverpool, pp.164-5), the aluminium Christ in Majesty, 1955-6 (Llandaff Cathedral), Jan Christian Smuts, head, 1957 (Jerusalem, Israel Museum), St Michael and the Devil, 1958 (Coventry Cathedral, see Public Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, p.142), Edward Sydney Woods, bust, 1955, cast 1958 (Lichfield Cathedral, see Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country, p.222), Princess Margaret, 1959-60 (University College of North Stafford) and the Bowater House group, Pan, 1959-61 (Edinburgh Gate, Knightsbridge, see Survey of London: vol.45: Knightsbridge, 2000, p.59). See also Silber 1986 pp.212-13, 217, 218, 220, 223, 225, 226-7.

By Michael Rizzello from 1957 onwards, Lloyd George, 1957 (*House of Commons), Sculptural Map of Surrey Commercial Docks in 1896, 1989 (Rotherhithe, Dock Hill Avenue, Public Sculpture of South London, p.252), Memorial to K.C. Irving, 1994, and Standing Man: K.C. Irving, 1995 (*both Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada) and Edward Jenner, bust, 1996 (St George's Hospital, Wandsworth, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.328-9).

Barbara Hepworth is described as appreciating the skills of the French foundry, Susse Frères, but to have found it stressful travelling to the continent, so that she employed Morris Singer exclusively from 1959, despite the fact that they did not always meet her exacting standards (Sally Festing, Barbara Hepworth: A life of Forms, 1995, p.243). Her 21 feet high Single form, which formed the Hammarskjöld Memorial (United Nations building, New York, see The Times 12 June 1964) was the largest single work Morris Singer had ever produced (Festing, Barbara Hepworth: A life of Forms, 1995, p.263). Single Form (Memorial), 1961-2, is a reduced scale version (Battersea Park, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.292).

Other works by Hepworth, generally marked: Morris Singer FOUNDERS LONDON, include Figure for Landscape, 1959-60, cast 1960 (Tate), Landscape Sculpture, 1944, cast 1961, marked: CIRE PERDU/ Morris/ Singer/ FOUNDERS/ LONDON (Tate), the aluminium Winged Figure, 1963 (*John Lewis Building, Oxford St), Squares with Two Circles, 1964 (Tate; another Liverpool, University of Liverpool Senate House, see Public Sculpture of Liverpool, p.226), Four-Square (Walk Through), 1966 (Tate; another cast Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, lent to Churchill College), Forms in Movement (Pavan), 1956-9, cast 1967 (Tate), Two Forms (Divided Circle), 1969 (Tate, another Dulwich Park, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.235), Construction (Crucifixion), 1969 (*Salisbury Cathedral) and Ancestor II from the Family of Man, 1970 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge). Further works by Hepworth cast by Morris Singer belonging to Tate can be found in Matthew Gale and Chris Stephens, Barbara Hepworth: works in the Tate Gallery Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum, St Ives, 1999 (see index). Works sold by Christie’s and Sotheby’s can be identified by searching their past sales archives, using the term ‘Morris Singer Hepworth’.

By Reg Butler from 1961. After the death of André Susse in 1961, Butler decided to try Morris Singer. He found their first trial was ‘a smasher’, declaring that ‘Their metal is much richer than the Susse stuff’; however, he subsequently came to prefer the Valsuani foundry at Paris (Margaret Garlake, The Sculpture of Reg Butler, 2006, pp.66-7). Morris Singer produced his Bride, c.1961, edition of 8 (example, Princeton University Art Museum, see Garlake p.159).

By Enzo Plazzotta from 1966 onwards, Battle of Lewes Memorial, aluminium and bronze, 1966 (Lewes, Sussex, see James 1984 p.49), Study for Jackie, 1975 (repr. Society of Portrait Sculptors, 25th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1978, p.57), Homage to Leonardo, 1982 (*Belgrave Square) and Jeté (David Wall), 1975, unveiled 1985, with foundry mark (46 Millbank, Westminster).

By Oscar Nemon from 1969 onwards, Winston Churchill, statue, 1969 (House of Commons, see Walker 1988 p.21), Winston Churchill, statue, 1969 (Brussels, repr. Society of Portrait Sculptors, 17th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1969), Sigmund Freud, 1970 (Swiss Cottage, Fitzjohns Avenue at Belsize Lane, see James 1984 p.50), The Queen Mother, bust, 1980 (repr. Society of Portrait Sculptors, 29th Annual Exhibition, exh.cat., 1982), RAF Memorial, 1984 (*Avenue Road, Toronto, Canada) and Winston Churchill, statue, 1986 (*Toronto, Canada).

Works in the Henry Moore Foundation produced by Morris Singer include the following, (catalogue number and dating from Mitchinson 1998). Apparently from the late 1940s and early 1950s but possibly cast later: Family Group, 1948-9, edition of 5+1 (no.156) and King and Queen, 1952-3, edition of 5+2 (no.170). From the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, in edition of 9+1 unless stated, many on a large-scale, include Oval with Points, 1968-70, edition of 6+1 (no.220), Reclining Connected Forms, 1969 (no.225), Sheep Piece, 1971-2, edition of 3+ 1 (no.230), Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped, 1975, edition of 7+1 (no.238), Upright Motive No.9, 1979, edition of 6+1 (no.218), Reclining Woman: Elbow, 1981 (no.271), Large Upright Internal/External Form, 1981-2, edition of 1+1 (no.162), Reclining Figure, 1982 (no.246), Draped Reclining Mother and Baby, 1983 (no.272), Mother and Child: Block Seat, 1983-4 (no. 275), Large Reclining Figure, 1984, edition of 1+1 (no.103) and Large Figure in a Shelter, 1985-6, edition of 1+1 (no.237).

Works by Moore in other collections include Knife Edge, 1978 (*Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art), Vertebrae in Three Pieces, 1978 (*Dallas City Hall, Texas), Sundial, 1979 (*Chicago, Waterfront), Working Model for Reclining Woman: Elbow, 1981, marked: Morris/ Singer Founders London (Christie’s New York 4 May 2010 lot 32) and King and Queen, 1984 (*Dumfries, Scotland).

Works by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi from 1987 onwards, The Artist as Hephaistos, 1987 (*34 High Holborn), Newton after James Watt, 1989-90 (Design Museum, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.177), The Wealth Of Nations, 1993 (*Edinburgh, Royal Bank of Scotland) and the monumental Newton After Blake, 1995, with foundry mark (British Library, forecourt).

By Michael Sandle from 1988 onwards, A Mighty Blow for Freedom, 1988 (*Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow), St George and the Dragon, 1988 (Blackfriars, Dorset Rise, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.95), and St Margaret, 1992 (*Peterborough, Pearl Assurance Headquarters), The Malta Siege Bell Memorial, 1992 (*Valletta, Malta), International Memorial to Seafarers, 2001, marked: CAST BY MORRIS SINGERS LTD 2001 (Albert Embankment, International Maritime Organization, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.25-8) and Royal National Life Boat Institution Monument, 2002 (*Douglas, Isle of Man).

By Philip Jackson from 1992 onwards, The Yomper, 1992 (*Royal Marines Museum, Eastney, Portsmouth), Young Mozart, 1994 (*Orange Square, Belgravia), Jersey Liberation Memorial, 1995 (*St Helier, Jersey), Raoul Wallenberg Memorial, 1997 (*Great Cumberland Place), Gurkha, 1997 (*Whitehall Place), St Richard, 2000 (*Chichester Cathedral), Chelsea Pensioner, 2000 (*Royal Hospital, Chelsea) and HM Queen on Horseback, 2003 (*Windsor Great Park). The sculptor has stated that Morris Singer is one of the businesses used by him for casting his large and medium-sized works, the other being Burleighfield (qv); for small-scale works, he has used Lunts of Birmingham (Philip Jackson: Sculpture since 1987, 2002, p.24).

By Wendy Taylor from 1994 onwards, Jester, 1994 (*Emanuel College, Cambridge), Equilibrium, 1995 (*Embankment Place), Jester II, 1995 (*PepsiCo Collection, New York), Rope Circle, 1995 (*Hermitage Waterside) and Opus, 1997 (*Yorkshire Sculpture Park).

Other works post-1950: From the 1950s, William Leslie Bowles’s equestrian General Sir John Monash, 1950 (Government House, Melbourne, Australia, repr. Morris Singer Company, Architectural Metalwork, 1950 or later, p.8), David McFall’s Two Unicorns, 1950 (*pair on roof of Bristol Council House, see Public Sculpture of Bristol, p.79), William McMillan’s King George VI, 1955 (Carlton Gardens, see James 1984 p.29), Sir Walter Raleigh, 1959 (Whitehall, Raleigh Green, see James 1984 p.29), Lord Trenchard, 1961, marked: MORRIS SINGER Co LTD/ London S.W.3 (Victoria Embankment at Air Ministry, see James 1984 p.49) and Thomas Coram, 1962 (Brunswick Square, see James 1984 p.49), Robert Clatworthy’s The Bull, 1957, cast 1959 (Roehampton, Danebury Avenue, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.313), and Horse and Rider, 1983 (*Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith).

Works from the 1960s and subsequently, Patrick Glyn Heesom's aluminium, Littlewoods Sculpture, 1965 (Liverpool, Old Hall St, see Public Sculpture of Liverpool, p.125, Philip Bentham’s Coventry Boy, 1966 (Coventry Cathedral, see Public Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, p.179), Percy George Bentham’s Fisherman and Nymph, 1968 (Coventry, Coombe Park, see Public Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, p.19), David Wynne’s River God Tyne, 1968, Swans in Flight, 1968 (*both Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Civic Centre) and Boy and Dolphin, 1975 (*Oakley St at Chelsea Embankment), Cubitt Bevis’s seated statue, Sir Thomas More, 1969 (Chelsea Old Church, see James 1984 p.49), Lynn Chadwick’s Folded Winged Figure, conceived 1968, edition of 4, Conjunction XIV, 1970, and Shiny Diamond, 1970 (all three Christie’s 27 May 2010 lots 5, 7 and 76, all with foundry mark). For the National Portrait Gallery in the 1960s, all cast from earlier works, the electrotype figure, Tom Sayers, made 1960 after Angelo Bezzi (NPG 2465a), the bust, Nicholas Hawksmoor, cast 1962 after a bust attributed to Sir Henry Cheere, 1736, marked: CAST BY/ MORRIS SINGER Co/ LONDON S.W.8 (Kerslake 1977 p.136) and the life-mask, John Hunter, 1962, from an original of c.1785 (Ingamells 2004 p.273).

From the 1970s and subsequently, Samuel Tonkiss’s bust, L.S. Lowry, 1971, with foundry mark (National Portrait Gallery), Stephen Tomlin’s Lytton Strachey, c.1929-30, cast 1973 (example, Christie’s 20 June 1996, marked: Morris Singer Founders London 5/8), Nigel Boonham’s head, Sir Geoffrey Keynes, 1976, marked: Morris/ Singer/ Founders/ London. (National Portrait Gallery) and John Huggins' Classic Flight, 1979 (Bristol, Royal Fort Gardens see Public Sculpture of Bristol, p.208). Also Henri Gaudier-Brzeska’s Major Smythies, 1912, cast 1971 (edition of 5, examples at Tate, Southampton City Art Gallery, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery and Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, see Silber 1996 p.253), Gorilla, 1912, cast by 1973 (edition of 7, see Silber 1996 p.256, example Sotheby's 15 December 2010 lot 158) and Maquette for a Bird Bath, 1913, scaled up and cast 1992 (edition of 3, see Silber 1996 p.267, example McMaster Art Gallery, University of Hamilton, Ontario).

From the 1980s and subsequently, Alexander’s Jubilee Oracle, 1980 (Queen’s Walk, Lambeth, see Public Sculpture of South London, p.81) and the 29 ft high The Great Tower, 1980, marked: Morris/ Singer/ Founders/ London (Empingham, Rutland, see Public Sculpture of Leicestershire and Rutland, pp.289-90, and Alexander, ‘The Great Tower: Conception and Construction of a Very Large Bronze Sculpture’, Leonardo, vol.18, 1985, p.25), Martin Ludlow’s John Wesley Conversion Place Memorial, 1981, marked: Morris/ Singer/ FOUNDERS/ LONDON (London Wall, Barbican, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.233), Astrid Zydower’s 9 ft high Orpheus, 1984 (*Harewood House), Catharine Marr-Johnson’s Swans, front swan cast by Morris Singer, 1984 (Battersea Bridge Road, see Public Sculpture of South London, 2007, p.282), George Fullard’s Running Woman, 1957, cast 1985, and Angry Woman, 1958, cast 1985 (both Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust, see Gillian Whiteley, Assembling the absurd: the sculpture of George Fullard, 1998, nos 28, 30), Stephen Joyce's St Odilia and the Bird, 1985, and John Cabot, 1986 (respectively Bristol Eye Hospital and Narrow Quay, Bristol, see Public Sculpture of Bristol, pp.143, 158), James Butler’s statues Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis, 1985 (*Guards HQ, Birdcage Walk) and Thomas Cook, 1993, marked: MORRIS/ SINGER/ FOUNDRY/ ENGLAND (Leicester, London Road, see Public Sculpture of Leicestershire and Rutland, pp.138-9), Frank Dobson’s bronze, London Pride (Leisure), cast 1987 (outside Royal National Theatre, see Public Sculpture of South London, 2007, p.68), Ian Walters’ bust, Nelson Mandela, 1982, cast 1988 (outside Royal Festival Hall, see Public Sculpture of South London, pp.74-7), Philip Blacker’s life size Red Rum, 1988 (*Aintree Racecourse), and Bronze Arms & Swords, 1988 (*Victory Arch, Baghdad), Alexander Stoddart's Mercurial, 1989 (Glasgow, John St, see Public Sculpture of Glasgow, p.216), and Chris Dunseath's Hand and Cross, 1989 (West Bromwich, High St, see Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country, p.186) and Spirit of the Waterfront, 1992 (Brierly Hill, Waterfront East, see Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country, p.32).

From the 1990s and subsequently, Althea Wynne’s The Minster Court Horses, 1990 (Minster Court, Mincing Lane, see Public Sculpture of the City of London, p.259), Rudy Weller’s fountain, Horses of Helios, 1992 (Piccadilly Circus, Criterion Building), Glynn Williams’ Gateway of Hands, 1993 (*Chelsea Harbour), Gerry Downes’s Leda and the Swan, 1994 (*Golden Square, now at Rochester), Rudi Weller’s Eagle, 1994 (*Bedford School), Bruce Williams’ Tony Hancock Memorial, 1995 (*Birmingham, Old Square), Shona Kinlock’s Two Swimmers and a Fish, 1995 (*Main Street, Kilmarnock, Scotland), Annette Yarrow’s Figures for Fireplace, 1997 (*Goodwood House, Sussex), Keith Maddison’s statue, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, 1997 (*Hatfield, Hertfordshire) and Jonathan Wylder’s 1st Duke of Westminster, 1998 (*Belgrave Square).

From the 2000s, Annette Yarrow’s Baby Elephant, 2000 (*Chester Zoo, Chester), Peter Walker's statue, Izaak Walton, 2000 (Stafford, Victoria Road, see Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country, p.129), Andrew Burton’s Crucible & Cannon, 2000 (*Dudley), Walrus, 2001, and Large Elephant, 2002 (*Newcastle University), Vivien Mallock’s R/M Tank Memorial, 2000 (*Whitehall Place), Kay Potts’s Douglas Bader, 2001 (*Goodwood Sculpture Park), Maty Grunberg’s Sundial Sculpture, 2001 (*New York, NY Hall of Science), Sally Matthews’s 5 Wolves, 2001 (*Goodwood Sculpture Park), Ben Panting’s Dennis Law, 2002 (*Manchester United Football Club) and Arch, 2002 (*Dulwich College), Liam O'Connor’s Constitution Hill Memorial, 2002 (*Constitution Hill), Alma Boyes’s Cordwainer (Seated figure on a stool), 2002 (*Bow Churchyard, Cheapside), Anita Lafford’s Base/Frame, 2003 (*Hillingdon Town Centre), Robert Thomas’s Girl Dreaming, 2004, Family Group, 2004, Miner, 2004, and Mother & Child Shopping, all 2004 (*all Cardiff City Centre), Nicolas Dimbleby’s Whistler Memorial, 2005 (*Embankment), Paul Day's Battle of Britain Monument, 2005, marked with seal: Morris/ Singer/ FOUNDERS/ LONDON (Victoria Embankment) and his outsize The Meeting Place, 2007 (St Pancras Station, see David Fraser Jenkins, ‘The Meeting Place by Paul Day: a very public commission at St Pancras Station, 2006/9’, Sculpture Journal, vol.19, 2010, pp.94-5).

Sources: **Trade catalogue, Morris Singer Company branch of William Morris & Co. (Westminster) Ltd. And incorporating the Architectural Metal Department of “Singers of Frome”, c.1937, 51pp; Duncan S. James, A Century of Statues: the History of the Morris Singer Foundry, 1984; supplementary information on dating taken from website of Morris Singer Co, now Zahra Modern Art Foundries, accessed April 2010, now available at www.zmaf.co.uk/. For abbreviations, see Resources and bibliography.

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Found a mistake? Have some extra information? Who should be added to this directory? Please contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.

Introduction Resources and bibliography