Goscombe John

Sir
Goscombe John
RA
Portrait by Simon Hermon Vedder, 1901
Born(1860-02-21)21 February 1860
Cardiff, Wales
Died15 December 1952(1952-12-15) (aged 92)
London, England
Education
Known forSculpture
MovementNew Sculpture
Spouse
Martha Weiss
​
​
(m. 1891; died 1923)​
AwardsKnight Bachelor (1911)

Sir William Goscombe John RA (21 February 1860 – 15 December 1952[1]) 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.[2][3] 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.[3][4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference DWBjohn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Alan Borg (1991). War memorials: From Antiquity to the Present. Leo Cooper. ISBN 085052363X.
  3. ^ a b Pearson, Fiona (2014). "John, Sir William Goscombe (1860–1952), sculptor and medallist". In Pearson, Fiona (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34197. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 20 September 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ Peter Lord (2006). The Tradition: A New History of Welsh Art 1400–1990. Parthian. ISBN 978-1-910409-62-6.