Details of Sculptor

Surname

Grundy

Alternative Surname

First Name

Thomas

Initial of Surname

G

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

Year of Death

- 1829

Biographical Details

Grundy, who became free of the Masons’ Company by redemption in 1802, was much employed as a master-mason by the architect Sir John Soane. In 1807 he provided the sarcophagus for a mausoleum designed by Soane for Sir Francis Bourgeois, one of the founders of the Dulwich Picture Gallery (1). It commemorated Bourgeois’ friend and business partner Noel Joseph Desenfans and was erected behind the house they shared in Charlotte Street, Portland Place (now Hallam Street). Grundy worked under Soane at the Bank of England from 1807 until his death, and was in partnership with James Nelson until 1811 (4). The abstracts of bills for his mason’s work for 1812 lists many marble chimneypieces at the Bank and elsewhere (Soane cupboard F/35/29, 118). He was employed by Soane between 1825 and 1828 at the New Courts of Justice, Pelwall House and Freemasons’ Hall (7, 8, 9, 11). In 1814 and 1817 he carved monuments to Soane’s designs commemorating the naval commander Viscount Bridport and the singer Anna Storace (2, 3). Gunnis notes a bill in the Soane archives, dated 1818, ‘to the executors of Signora Storace for a statuary marble wall-piece fixed in Lambeth Church, £30’ (Soane Bill Book H f 169).
As a master mason he worked at Moggerhanger, Beds, 1809-12, providing also large quantities of stone. For the labour and materials he was paid £1,785 in 1809. He was also responsible for alterations to the homes of Lord St Germans and Samuel Thornton in St James’s Square, and in 1818 and 1819 to Fife House, Whitehall, the home of Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister. In 1821 he built 4 houses in Regent Street and, between 1827 and 1830, branches of the Bank of England at Bristol, Hull, Liverpool, Newcastle and Norwich, all designed by Soane. He may have worked in partnership with a craftsman named Wright at Grosvenor House, London, for payments of £1,046 are recorded to Wright and Grundy for masonry work. After Grundy’s death in 1829 his widow Jane continued the business. His will gives his address as Earl Street, Horseferry Road.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 182
Archival References: Soane Bank Account, vol 8, (1808-9), fol 246 ( Bank of England); Soane Bill Book G fols 185-6 (building work at Moggerhanger); Soane Bill Book G fols 423-4 (mason at Dulwich College); Soane Bill Book 1, fols 188-90 (mason’s work, Earl St Germans’s house, St James’s Square, London); Soane Bill Book 1, fols 306-7 (mason for Messrs Grote, Prescott & Grote, 62 Threadneedle St, London); Soane Bill Book 1 fol 394 (removing, reworking and resetting staircase, Freemasons’ Hall, London); Soane Bill Book K, fols 1-10 (mason for 8 houses built for Mr Robins in Regent St and King St); RG/JP, 4, 628
Will: PROB 11/1774