Goscombe John

Sir

Goscombe John

Portrait by Simon Hermon Vedder, 1901
Born 21 February 1860
Cardiff, Wales
Died 15 December 1952 (aged 92)
London, England
Education
Known for Sculpture
Movement New Sculpture
Spouse
Martha Weiss
​
​
(m. 1891; died 1923)​
Awards Knight Bachelor (1911)

Sir William Goscombe John (21 February 1860 – 15 December 1952) was a prolific Welsh sculptor known for his many public memorials. As a sculptor, John developed a distinctive style of his own while respecting classical traditions and forms of sculpture. He gained national attention with statues of eminent Victorians in London and Cardiff and subsequently, after both the Second Boer War and World War I, created a large number of war memorials. These included the two large group works, The Response 1914 in Newcastle upon Tyne and the Port Sunlight War Memorial which are considered the finest sculptural ensembles on any British monument.

Although as a young man he adopted the first name Goscombe, taken from the name of a village in Gloucestershire near his mother's home, he was actively engaged with his native Wales and Welsh culture throughout his career.

Biography

Early life and career

John was born in the Canton area of Cardiff, to Thomas John, a wood carver from Llantrithyd and Elizabeth (née Smith), from Randwick, Gloucestershire. As a youth John assisted his father in the restoration of Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch during 1874 which was being overseen by William Burges. He initially studied in his home town, attending the Cardiff School of Art throughout the 1870s and also took anatomy classes from a local painter.

John moved to London in 1881 and worked as a pupil-assistant in the studio of Thomas Nicholls, Burges' architectural carver. John then studied at the South London School of Technical Art under Jules Dalou and William Silver Frith and then at the Royal Academy Schools, where he won the gold medal and a travelling scholarship in 1887. Throughout 1890 and 1891 he travelled in Europe and Africa and, in 1891, took a studio in Paris where he studied with Auguste Rodin. John's statuette, Morpheus clearly reflected the influence of Rodin on his development and the piece received an honourable mention when shown at the Paris Salon in 1892. Following the success of Morpheus, John created a series of exhibition pieces that embraced the naturalistic style of the New Sculpture movement and cemented his reputation. John the Baptist, 1894, a life-sized figure cast in block tin for Lord Bute won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exhibition.

Other notable works from this period included Girl Binding her Hair, 1893, The Elf, 1898 and A Boy at Play, 1895. A Boy at Play was subsequently purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for the Tate. The Elf was highly praised when shown at the Royal Academy in 1898 and was subsequently reproduced both in bronze and marble to become among John's most popular works. John received gold medals from the Paris Salon in 1892 and, for his statue of the Duke of Devonshire, in 1901.

Drummer Boy statue, reverse of the King's Regiment memorial, Liverpool
Detail of the Port Sunlight war memorial
Detail of The Response 1914, Newcastle upon Tyne

Major works

By the early 1900s John had established himself as a sculptor of some note and began to receive significant public commissions. Although based in London, John won a number of large commissions in his native Wales. He designed the Hirlas Horn for the 1898 National Eisteddfod of Wales and a set of ceremonial tools to mark the building of the National Museum Wales in Cardiff. For the monument, unveiled in 1899 and known as The Girl, to Welsh poets and preachers at Llansannan, John depicted a girl in modern clothing wrapped in a traditional Welsh cloak. The creation of that monument had been promoted by the Welsh nationalist Thomas Edward Ellis and when he died, also in 1899, John was selected to sculpt his memorial statue which was unveiled at Bala in 1903 by David Lloyd George. John's statue of the shipping magnate and philanthropist John Cory was erected in Cathays Park in the centre of Cardiff and is one of several statues by him in, or near, the park. These include the 1906 bronze statue of Lord Tredegar which was John's first equestrian statue. His 1916 marble St David Blessing the People is also nearby in the Marble Hall of Cardiff City Hall.

John received a further number of national and international commissions, including several for war memorials. John's 1905 King's Regiment Boer War memorial in St John's Gardens, Liverpool depicts two soldiers of the regiment from different historical periods, one from the 17th century and one from the Boer War period, around a figure of Britannia on a pedestal. John created a similar representation of a regiment's heroic traditions for the 1924 Royal Welch Fusiliers memorial at Wrexham which features statues of 18th and 20th century soldiers. On the reverse of the Liverpool monument is a sculpture featuring a regimental drummer boy of 1743. This was subsequently cast as a separate, small bronze in an edition for the retail market and became a popular purchase while a monumental version was also cast and is held by the National Museum Wales.

Before the outbreak of the First World War, John had been commissioned to create a memorial to the 244 engineers who had died with the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. When the monument was completed in 1916, and erected in Liverpool, it was dedicated to all engineers and engine room workers lost at sea, including those killed during the war.

John was commissioned by Lord Leverhulme to design a memorial at Port Sunlight to the 500 plus employees of Lever Brothers Ltd who had died in the First World War. John exhibited a variety of sketches and maquettes for the memorial at the Royal Academy in 1919 and 1920 but left the final selection of figures to Leverhulme. The monument consists of a cross on an octagonal base on an elevated podium. There are large bronze sculptural groups with a total of 11 figures and 12 relief panels on the podium. The main sculpture group shows three soldiers, one shielding a child and one lying wounded with a figure of a nurse approaching him. The sculptural group on the rear of the podium consists of a mother figure with infants and other children. The relief panels on the podium sides show pairs of children carrying wreaths plus panels showing combat scenes including machine gunners in a trench and action stations on the bridge of a warship. The monument was greatly praised for its depiction of military and civilian roles, Nicholas Pevsner described the monument as "genuinely moving and avoids sentimentality".

The Port Sunlight memorial was unveiled in 1921, two years before John's Northumberland Fusiliers Memorial was erected in Newcastle upon Tyne. Known as "The Response 1914" the monument was commissioned to mark the raising of four battalions of volunteers by the local Chamber of Commerce at the start of World War I. In bronze, John created a procession of deep-relief figures representing the volunteers and those they were leaving behind. The procession is led a winged angel, an allegory of renown, blowing a horn above two drummer boys followed by uniformed soldiers and men in civilian clothes, some of whom are saying goodbye to women and children. Although created several years after the end of the war, the monument illustrates the mood of patriotic confidence and resolve that had marked a period at the start of the conflict ten years earlier and makes the work deeply poignant. Writing in 1991, Alan Borg, a former director of the Imperial War Museum described the Port Sunlight and Newcastle memorials as the finest sculptural ensembles on any British monument.

Personal life

John was made a Royal Academician in 1909 and became a corresponding member of the Institut de France. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1886 and continued to do so annually until 1948. In 1942 he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Society of Sculptors. He was knighted at Caernarfon Castle in 1911 during the investiture of Edward VIII as the Prince of Wales for which he designed elements of the regalia and a medal. John was influential in the development of the National Museum of Wales, having served on its governing council for over forty years and donated numerous art works to the Museum.

In August 1890, John married the Swiss-born Marthe Weiss. Their daughter Muriel married Luke Val Fildes in 1915, the son of the artist Sir Luke Fildes. From 1892 John lived at Greville Road, Kilburn, London (in a house that had previously belonged to Seymour Lucas), and is buried in Hampstead Cemetery. The memorial statue of his wife, which he designed when she died in 1923, was stolen from the cemetery in 2001 and recovered after a few months; it was then put into storage, but was stolen again in 2007.

Public monuments and memorials

1890–1899

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
Memorial to W.R.H Powell Llanboidy, Carmarthenshire 1891 Statue White marble Grade II* Q17742263

More images 		A Boy at Play Tate Britain, London c. 1895 Statue on base Bronze & stone

More images 		Daniel Owen Mold, Flintshire c.1896, repositioned 1976 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone Grade II Q29480968

More images 		The Elf Kibble Palace, Botanic Gardens, Glasgow 1899 Statue on plinth Marble 2.25m high Q84322910 One of several versions in different materials

More images 		The Girl

Tudur Aled
William Salesbury
Henry Rees
William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog)
Edward Roberts (Iorwerth Glan Aled)

Llansannan, Conwy 1899 Statue on obelisk & plinth Bronze & stone Grade II Q29499309 Monument to Welsh poets and preachers.

More images 		Joyance Thompson's Park, Cardiff 1899 Statue Bronze Q47494806 Also at St Fagans National Museum of History

1900–1909

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
Tomb of Dean Charles Vaughan North choir-aisle of Llandaff Cathedral 1900 Tomb with sculpture Marble

More images 		William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire Devonshire Place, Eastbourne 1901 Statue on plinth Bronze & stone Grade II Q26295681

More images 		Memorial to Arthur Sullivan Victoria Embankment Gardens, London 1902 Bust and figure on pedestal Bronze & granite Grade II Q27081637

More images 		Memorial to Arthur Sullivan St Paul's Cathedral, London 1902 Relief plaque Bronze

More images 		Alfred Thomas, 1st Baron Pontypridd National Museum Cardiff 1902 Bust Marble
Wigan and District Boer War memorial Mesnes Park, Wigan 1903 Sculpture on plinth Stone with bronze additions Removed after repeated vandalism.
James Reid (1823–1894) Springburn Park, Glasgow 1903 Statue on pedestal Bronze & granite Category B Q17811051

More images 		Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein Thames Street, Windsor, Berkshire 1903 Statue and surround Bronze & Portland stone Grade II Q26411185

More images 		Thomas Edward Ellis Bala, Gwynedd 1903 Statue on plinth with panels Bronze & sandstone c. 4.5m high Grade II Q29502898 A full-size copy is at the Old College, Aberystwyth
Coldstream Guards Boer War memorial Vestibule of south nave, St Paul's Cathedral, London 1904 Plaque in deep relief Gilt bronze & stone 1.5m x 0.9m

More images 		RAMC Boer War Memorial Gun Hill, Aldershot 1905 Sculpture group, obelisk and wall with plaques Bronze & granite Grade II Q26672950 Architect, Robert Weir Schultz

More images 		Memorial to Alfred W. Hughes Corris, Gwynedd 1905 Celtic cross on pedestal with a bronze plaque Granite Grade II Q2949920

More images 		The King's Regiment memorial St John's Gardens, Liverpool 1905 4 statues with base, pedestal & wall Bronze & stone Grade II Q26333154 AB Burton (foundry); William Kirkpatrick Ltd (builders)
Journalists of the South African War memorial Crypt of St. Faith, St Paul's Cathedral, London 1905 Relief plaque with surround Bronze and red limestone

More images 		Edward VII Grand Parade, Cape Town, South Africa 1905 Statue on pedestal and steps Marble & granite 9m tall Q19623378

More images 		Bokani National Museum Cardiff 1905 Bust Bronze 35cm

More images 		John Cory Gorsedd Gardens, Cathays Park, Cardiff 1906 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone Grade II Q29491668

More images 		John Cory National Museum Cardiff 1906 Bust Marble 70.0cm

More images 		Judge Gwilym Williams of Miskin (1839–1906) Opposite Crown Court, Cathays Park, Cardiff 1906 Statue on plinth Bronze & stone Grade II Q29491700

More images 		Memorial to 2nd Battn Royal Sussex Regiment, 1882 to 1902 Grand Parade, Eastbourne 1906 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone Grade II* Q17555428 AB Burton (foundry)
John Viriamu Jones Entrance hall, Main Building of Cardiff University, Cathays Park 1906 Statue on pedestal Marble

More images 		William Edward Hartpole Lecky Trinity College, Dublin 1906 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone Q82094233

More images 		Bishop Richard Lewis Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff 1908 Wall-mounted statue with plaque Bronze

More images 		Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar Gorsedd Gardens, Cathays Park, Cardiff 1909 Equestrian statue on pedestal with reliefs Bronze & stone Grade II Q29491649

More images 		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Westminster Abbey, London 1909 Altar & effigy Black marble & bronze

1910–1919

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet Wellington Square, Ayr 1910 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone Category B Q17838501

More images 		Edward James Saunderson Portadown, County Armagh 1910 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone
The Boy Scout National Museum Cardiff 1910 Statuette Bronze Portrait of Basil Webb, son of Henry Webb, and who served as a 2nd lieutenant with the Welsh Guards during the First World War and was killed in December 1917.
Lewis Edwards memorial Pen-llwyn, Ceredigion 1911 Bust on pedestal Bronze & granite Grade II Q29501128

More images 		Statue of Charles Rolls Agincourt Square, Monmouth 1911 Statue on pedestal Bronze & granite Grade II* Q7604480
Thomas Sutton Charterhouse School, Surrey 1911 Statue on plinth with plaques Bronze & stone Grade II Q26296559

More images 		An Indian Procession known as The Minto Panels Victoria Memorial, Kolkata 1913 Four deep-relief panels Bronze Previously on the pedestal to John's statue of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto, the panels are now located on and near to the base of the statue of Queen Victoria by George Frampton

More images 		Memorial to the Engine Room Heroes of the Titanic Pier Head, Liverpool 1916 Obelisk with statues Bronze & stone Grade II* Q3305518

More images 		Edward VII Pier Head, Liverpool 1916 Equestrian statue on pedestal Bronze Grade II Q26320984

More images 		Saint David Blessing the People The Marble Hall, Cardiff City Hall 1916 Statue on pedestal Marble
Lieutenant Colonel A. Carteret-Thynne DSO Parish Church of St. James the Great, Kilkhampton, Cornwall 1917 Tablet with figure & plaque Marble & bronze Carteret-Thynne was killed in action in 1917, having also served in the South African War.

More images 		Statue of Viscount Wolseley Horse Guards Parade, London 1917 Equestrian statue on pedestal Bronze & Portland stone Grade II Q18159880

More images 		Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart Cathays Park, Cardiff 1917 Statue on plinth Bronze & stone Grade II Q29491669
Capt H B Knott and Major J L Knott DSO St Andrew's Church, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland 1918 Tablet with relief figures Marble 1.2m by 1.5m

1920–1929

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes
Caradog, Griffith Rhys Jones Victoria Square, Aberdare 1920 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone Grade II Q29489462

More images 		Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer Westminster Abbey, London 1920 Plaque with medallion portrait Marble

More images 		War memorial Bryn Square, Lampeter 1921 Statue on pedestal and raised terrace Bronze & granite 4.5m high Grade II Q29489055 Terrace & wall designed by Llewllyn Bankes-Price

More images 		Port Sunlight War Memorial Port Sunlight, Merseyside 1921 Celtic Cross on an octagonal podium with eleven sculptured figures and twelve relief panels. Bronze & granite 11.5m high Grade I Q15979246 AB Burton (foundry); William Kirkpatrick Ltd (builders)

More images 		David Lloyd George National Museum Cardiff 1921 Bust Bronze, marble base 35.5cm

More images 		David Lloyd George Castle Square, Caernarfon 1921 Statue on plinth Bronze & stone Grade II Q29483625 AB Burton (foundry); Base by J Fletcher of Caernarfon.
Sir Stanley Maude Baghdad, Iraq 1921 Equestrian statue Bronze Pedestal by Edward Prioleau Warren, destroyed c. 1958
Statue of Sir John Tomlinson Brunner Grounds of Brunner-Mond works, Winnington, Cheshire 1922 Statue on pedestal Bronze & granite Grade II Q15979536

More images 		Thomas Charles Edwards Old College, Aberystwyth 1922 Statue on pedestal Bronze & granite Grade II Q29488944 AB Burton (foundry)

More images 		War memorial Town Hall Gardens, Llanelli 1923 Relief panel and cenotaph Bronze & granite Grade II Q29490305

More images 		Northumberland Fusiliers Memorial "The Response 1914" Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne 1923 Bronze relief figures on a granite base with three granite figures on the reverse Bronze & granite Grade I Q17552582 AB Burton (foundry); William Kirkpatrick Ltd (builders)
War memorial Alexandra Gardens, Penarth 1924 Obelisk-mounted sculpture on stepped plinth Bronze & granite Grade II Q29491428

More images 		Royal Welch Fusiliers memorial Junction of Bodhfryd Rd. & Chester Rd., Wrexham 1924 Twin sculptures on pedestal Bronze & stone Grade II Q29481992
Carmarthen County war memorial Priory Street, Carmarthen 1924 Statue on pedestal and plinth Bronze & Portland stone 4.5m high Grade II Q29504987

More images 		Llandaff Cathedral School war memorial Cathedral Green, Llandaff, Cardiff 1924 3 Sculptures on pedestals Bronze & stone Grade II Q29491677

More images 		Tomb of Lord and Lady Leverhulme Christ Church, Port Sunlight c. 1925 Pair of chest tombs with effigies Bronze and black marble Grade II*

More images 		James Rice Buckley Cathedral Green, Llandaff 1927 Statue on pedestal Bronze & granite Grade II Q29491672
Basil Webb Crypt of Lady Chapel, Hereford Cathedral Reredos with figures of 3 saints Basil Webb was the son of Henry Webb who funded the memorial.

1930 and later

Image Title / subject Location and
coordinates 		Date Type Material Dimensions Designation Wikidata Notes

More images 		Evan James & James James Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd 1930 Two statues on plinths Bronze Grade II* Q17743403

More images 		Seymour Berry, 1st Baron Buckland Outside Central Library, Merthyr Tydfil 1931 Statue on pedestal Bronze & stone Grade II Q29489898

More images 		Bishop Edward Bevan Brecon Cathedral, Powys 1935 Effigy on base Bronze and stone Grade 1

More images 		George V Entrance to Queensway Tunnel, Liverpool 1939 Statue Bronze

More images 		Queen Mary Entrance to Queensway Tunnel, Liverpool 1939 Statue Bronze

More images 		Bishop Joshua Pritchard Hughes Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff 1940 Plaque Bronze

Other works

Saint John the Baptist

John exhibited medals on at least seven occasions at the Royal Academy between 1898 and 1918. He designed the medal for the 1911 investiture of Edward VIII as Prince of Wales and the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935. During his career John also produced medals and seals for several organisations in Wales. These included medal designs for the Cardiff School of Art and the Welsh Nursing Association plus seals for the National Museum Wales, the Merthyr Tydfil Corporation and the Church of Wales. For the National Eisteddfod Association he designed a medal with bardic images.

John's output was prolific and also includes monuments to Lord Salisbury in Westminster Abbey and at St Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield. John's output also included: