Details of Sculptor

Surname

Barlow

Alternative Surname

First Name

William II

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1740-52

Year of Death

Biographical Details

Best remembered as the master of Thomas Banks, he became a director of the Westminster Fire Office in 1734. Between 1740 and 1754 he was employed on wood-carving at the house of the Rt Hon Henry Pelham in Arlington Street, where in 1750 he received £109 11s 1 1/2d for carving in the ‘great room’ (Pelham, box 1, 152) (6). He became free of the Masons’ Company by redemption on 18 June 1751 and the following day agreed to supply twelve chimneypieces to ‘Mr Dance’s Drawings and Particulars’, for the second floor and attic of the Mansion House by Michaelmas 1752. These were priced at £350 (MH Papers, Box 2, cited by Jeffery 1993, 299) (2). Christopher Horsnaile II also tendered for the work but quoted the much higher price of £690. Barlow received £50 on account on 20 December 1751 and the balance of £150 in 1752. He supplied more elaborate chimneypieces for the Lord Mayor’s bed chamber and ante-chamber and received £16 for two lavatory basins for the same building (3, 4, 7). The sculptor also signs a large architectural monument with a triangular pediment and central sarcophagus commemorating Sir George Savile at Thornhill (1).
He can probably be identified with ‘William Barlow Carver in Swallow Street St Thomas Westminster’ whose will was proved on 8 May 1756. He may have been related to John Barlow who was granted the freedom of the Masons’ Company by redemption on 3 August 1792 (Masons’ Co Freemen List, fol 7) or to Thomas Barlow, a master carpenter and speculative builder who worked in London from about 1700 until his death in 1730 (see Colvin 1995, 100).
Literary References: Farington, vol II, 407; Flaxman 1838, 274; Gunnis 1968, 40; Jeffery 1993, 126-7, 273, 299
Archival References: Masons’ Co, Freemen, fol 7, 18 June 1751, 3 August 1792; WFO, MN 343/5, 17 Oct 1734; GPC
Will: PROB 11/822