Details of Sculptor

Surname

Bastard family

Alternative Surname

First Name

of Blandford

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

Year of Death

Biographical Details

Thomas Bastard I †1720
John Bastard I c1687-1770
William Bastard c1689-1764
Thomas Bastard II c1686-1731
Benjamin Bastard c1698-1772
John Bastard II 1722-1778
The Bastards were a family of builders and architects whose activities centred on the south coast counties of Hampshire and Dorset. Initially the family were masons, joiners and carpenters, though in this period such labels could be fluidly applied to fit particular commissions. In the early 18th century the dominant figure in the business was Thomas Bastard I, who worked from Blandford. It is unlikely that very much, if any, work that could be described as sculptural came from the family during this period, but this was to change in the next generation.
After his death his three eldest sons, John Bastard I, William Bastard and Thomas Bastard II, set up together in Blandford as Bastard and Company. This was primarily a means of continuing their father’s business, but it also allowed the brothers to expand the architectural side of the firm, so opening the way for more sculpture-related activity. Little is recorded of the firm’s work during the first ten years of its existence, and not all their work was executed in partnership. The monument to Henry Dirdoe and family members, c1724, is signed by John alone. It comprises a circular relief of carved angels’ heads, which Gunnis thought delightful (1).
The lack of documentary evidence for this period may be due to a devastating fire that struck Blandford on 4 June 1731, destroying most of the town and its records. Those that do survive indicate that much of the partners’ early activity was building work and sculptural elements were restricted to architectural ornaments and chimneypieces. Later in 1731 Thomas Bastard II died, but the two remaining brothers used the opportunity provided by the destruction of Blandford to expand their business activities and played a major role in rebuilding the town. The rebuilding of Blandford was largely their work. This may not have been due simply to their abilities as builders, for they also had political power in the town. John and William owned the principal bank and between them held the position of town mayor nine times between 1729 and 1759. John became a director of the Westminster Fire Office in 1761.
The rebuilding of Blandford took only 30 years and so has a remarkable consistency of style. Austere Georgian forms predominate and the architectural decoration that formed the greater part of the Bastards’ sculptural work is restricted to carved capitals and small-scale carved detailing on classical façades. An example of the latter is the lion on the front of the Red Lion Inn, c1750 (7). Their capitals can be seen on numerous buildings around the town, including the parish church, the interior of which has a series of Ionic capitals (4), and the façade of the Old Greyhound Hotel, which has four Corinthian capitals (5). The notable feature of many of their capitals is the use of a baroque motif taken from Borromini in which the volutes turn inwards, an early appearance of this form in England. Also in Blandford is the Bastards’ monument to the fire, which takes the form of a water fountain and fire hydrant, erected in 1760 in the Market Square at the Bastards’ own expense (8).
Outside Blandford, they were responsible in 1749 for building a town house for the merchant Sir Peter Thompson at 25 Market Close, Poole. Like the Red Lion in Blandford, this building has a sculpted lion rampant, and a florid rococo-style coat of arms on its façade (6).
Neither John nor William married and at their deaths their business interests were inherited by two nephews, both named Thomas, who also inherited considerable wealth and had little interest in continuing the business. One nephew only lived a year after inheriting, leaving the second ‘to assume the status of a gentleman’ until his death in 1791 (Colvin 1947, 190).
Another son of Thomas Bastard I, Benjamin Bastard, also became a mason. After an apprenticeship with William Townesend, of Oxford, he set himself up independently in Sherborne. He was responsible for the monument to Peter Davis in the cloisters of Wells Cathedral (2). Rising to 4.25 metres in height, it has a conventional neoclassical cherub with an inverted smoking torch, standing in front of a pyramid. Another monument, to Anna Maria Sharp (†1747) in St John the Evangelist, Wicken, Northants, has been confidently attributed to Benjamin Bastard since it is ‘identical to the Davis monument’ (Pevsner, Northants, 1973, 462).
Thomas Bastard II had a son, John Bastard II, who was apprenticed to Benjamin Bastard and worked as a mason and architect for Lord Winterton and at Stoneleigh Abbey in 1764, the Middlesex Hospital, London in 1766 and at Greenwich Palace in the early 1770s.
Michael Paraskos
Literary References: Hutchins 1870, IV, 205; Webb 1925, 144-50; Colvin 1947, 178-95; Adams 1968, 445-50; Gunnis 1968, 41; Pevsner, Northants, 1973, 462; Stillman 1978, 175-213; Cornforth 1984, 268-9; Manco 1991, 145-70; Legg 1994, 15-42; Colvin 1995, 108-10; Smith and Hall 2000, 38-41
Archival References: John Bastard, A Book of Works to the South West Pavillion, King Charles’s Building, 1 Oct 1771-30 Sept 1773 (PRO 68/876); John Bastard’s notebook, Dorset RO D6, MIC/R/37 and R/114; WFO, MB, 343/11 (15 Oct 1761)
Miscellaneous Drawings: vol by Bastard family members, VAM, P&D, E.1310-2001
Wills: John Bastard II, PROB 11/957; William Bastard, PROB 11/926; Thomas Bastard I, Dorset RO MK/T50
Portraits: Unidentified artist, portrait of John Bastard II, Blandford Town Hall (repr Colvin 1947, 193); unidentified artist, portrait of William Bastard, Blandford Town Hall (repr Colvin 1947, 193)