Matthew Noble

Noble's statue of Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet (1871), Whitehall Gardens, London

Matthew Noble's grave, Brompton Cemetery, London

Matthew Noble (23 March 1817 – 23 June 1876) was a leading British portrait sculptor. Carver of numerous monumental figures and busts including work memorializing Victorian era royalty and statesmen displayed in locations such as Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and in Parliament Square, London.^[1]

Life

Noble was born in Hackness, near Scarborough, as the son of a stonemason, and served his apprenticeship under his father. He left Yorkshire for London when quite young, there he studied under John Francis (the father of sculptor Mary Thornycroft). Exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy from 1845 until his death, Noble became recognised after winning the competition to construct the Wellington Monument in Manchester in 1856.

Although prolific Noble was never in perfect health. He died at the age of 58 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London, on the west side of the main entrance path from the north, towards the central colonnade. His uncompleted works were finished by his assistant, J. Edwards.

Selected works

• figures of Robert Peel, 1851, and Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, 1874, in Parliament Square, London
• figure of Robert Peel, 1853, in the Concert Hall of St George's Hall, Liverpool^[2]
• William Cotton (banker), Bank of England, 1855
• the Wellington Monument in Manchester, with Wellington and allegorical bronzes of War, Peace, Wisdom and Victory, 1856
• marble figure of Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons in St Paul's Cathedral, London, 1860
• recumbent effigy of Thomas Carr, First Bishop of Bombay, St. Thomas Cathedral, Mumbai
• the figure of Albert in his memorial at Albert Square, Manchester, 1862–1867
• John Franklin in Waterloo Place, London, 1866
• figure of Peter Fairbairn, Mayor of Leeds, in Leeds, 1868
• statue of Albert, Prince Consort, Bombay, India, 1869. Located at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai.
• Sir James Ramsden, Barrow-in-Furness, 1872
• bust of Oliver Cromwell at the Manchester Town Hall
• statue of Cromwell at Wythenshawe Hall - from November 1875 until 1968 situated at the junction of Deansgate and Victoria Street in Manchester city centre^[3]
• marble statue of Queen Victoria and marble canopy, Bombay, India, 1872. Currently located in the grounds of the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai.
• James McGrigor in the small garden to the Royal Army Medical College, London
• 3 statues at the back of the Royal Academy, London
• Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet in Whitehall Gardens, London, 1871
• two recumbent effigies at York Minster, York
• bronze figure of the Marquess of Anglesey, by Matthew Noble, was placed on top of The Marquess of Anglesey's Column at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in 1860
• Captain William (Bill) Henry Cecil George Pechell (1830 - 1855) now in Waterloo Street Community Garden, Hove, East Sussex
• Lady van den Bempde-Johnstone (d 1853) in the Chancel of the Church of St Peter, Hackness, south wall.

Notes

1. Robinson, Leonard (2007). William Etty: The Life and Art. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-7864-2531-0.
2. Sharples, Joseph; Pollard, Richard. Liverpool. In Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006). The Buildings of England: Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. 296. ISBN 0-300-10910-5.
3. "Oliver Cromwell". Public Monument and Sculpture Association. Retrieved 18 March 2016.

Gallery

• 

  Samuel Lister, 1st Baron Masham in Lister Park, Bradford

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  Robert Peel, Parliament Square, London

• 

  Earl of Derby, Parliament Square

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  Albert Memorial, Albert Square, Manchester

• 

  Duke of Wellington, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

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  Bishop Thomas Carr, St. Thomas Cathedral, Mumbai

Sources

• online biography