Details of Sculptor

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Surname	Beard	Alternative Surname
First Name	Thomas	Initial of Surname	B
Year of Birth/Baptism	1727	Flourished
Year of Death	1803
Biographical Details	The son of Robert Beard, a barber of Navestock, Essex, he was apprenticed to William Heatley in 1740 and turned over to William Spratt in 1745, becoming free of the Masons’ Company in 1747. He became renter warden in 1779, upper warden in 1780, and finally master of the Company in 1781. His son Robert was apprenticed to him in 1774 and made free on 1 April 1784. Thomas died in 1803 and was buried at Islington. His tombstone describes him as ‘citizen and mason of London, 35 years an inhabitant of this parish’ (Nelson 1811, 329). Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 43 Archival References: Masons’ Co, Court Book, 1722-51 (2 May 1740, 6 Sept 1745); 1751-96 (14 June 1779, 14 June 1780, 14 June 1781); Masons’ Co Freemen, fol 7 (7 Jan 1747, 1 April 1784) Will: PROB 11/1391