Details of Sculptor

Surname

Gilliam

Alternative Surname

First Name

John

Initial of Surname

G

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1776-98

Year of Death

Biographical Details

Gilliam supplied a number of chimneypieces for Clumber Park (1, 2). As the junior partner of John Deval II he was employed on building work at Somerset House between 1776 and 1794, and after Devall’s death in 1794, with Thomas Wood. Gilliam also worked extensively on his own account at Somerset House (3-8). In 1782 he was the master-mason building the Fleet Prison, where he received a total sum of £2,211 (PRO, AO l/2495, cited by Gunnis 1968, 174).
There were a number of other masons called Gilliam, including some in Lincolnshire. A William Gilliam, of Welburn, was apprenticed to his father, Thomas Gilliam, mason, in 1718. Joseph Gilliam, an assistant to William Atkins, was sent down to Ashburnham Place, Sussex, in 1761 to set up a chimney-piece made by his master (Ashburnham Archives, cited by Gunnis 1968, 174).
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 174
Archival References: Clumber Archives, Nottingham Univ, bundle 274, in GPC; Shide Ledger, Somerset House, RIBA CHA/3/1/2 box 6 (1777); 3/1/8 (1780); box 6, 3/3, box 8 (1790)