Matthew Noble

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
Sir 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.
David Napier, now in Glasgow Transport Museum, 1871
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
a recumbent effigy of Sir Stephen Glynne (d. 1874) in St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden
two recumbent effigies at York Minster, York
a bronze figure of the Marquess of Anglesey was placed on top of the Marquess of Anglesey's Column at Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, 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

^ Robinson, Leonard (2007). William Etty: The Life and Art. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-7864-2531-0.
^ 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.
^ "Oliver Cromwell". Public Monument and Sculpture Association. Retrieved 18 March 2016.