Details of Sculptor

Surname

Rawlins

Alternative Surname

First Name

Thomas, of Norwich

Initial of Surname

R

Year of Birth/Baptism

c1727

Flourished

Year of Death

1789

Biographical Details

Rawlins ran a successful business as a monumental mason in Norwich c1743-81. He was the son of Thomas Rawlins, a worsted weaver of Norwich. He appears to have been trained by a London sculptor, for in 1753, he advertised that he had opened an establishment adjoining the Duke’s Palace Yard, where he executed monuments and chimneypieces ‘of the newest fashion ... having work’d at the most eminent Carvers in London’ (Norwich Mercury, 29 September 1753). On 1 May 1762 he offered ‘Five Rooms on one Floor’ to let in the parish of St John Maddermarket (Norwich Mercury) and two weeks later he advertised as a ‘carver and mason at the Duke’s Palace, Norwich’, stating that he executed ‘monuments and chimney pieces both ancient and modern’ (Norwich Mercury, 15 May 1762).
Rawlins specialised in tablets of coloured marbles with ‘delightful and delicately carved details’ and Gunnis considered him to be ‘in the front rank of the Norfolk statuaries’, rivalled only by Robert Page. His monument to Sir Thomas Churchman, which has a medallion portrait and a relief of Fame Overthrowing Time ‘compares favourably with the work of any London sculptor of the period’ (Gunnis 1968, 315) (18).
He also practised as an architect, exhibiting designs at the Society of Artists in 1767, 1769 and 1770, and at the Royal Academy in 1773, 1774 and 1776 and competing for the Royal Exchange at Dublin in 1769. In 1765 the Ipswich Journal advertised a proposed work on architecture by Rawlins and in 1768 he published Familiar Architecture: or Original Designs of Houses for Gentlemen and Tradesmen; Parsonages; Summer Retreats; Banqueting-Rooms; and Churches. The designs are Palladian in style and further editions were issued in 1789 and 1795. His only documented architectural works are the entrance to St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich (1774, subsequently rebuilt) and Weston House, Weston Longvill, Norfolk (1781, demol 1926). His reinforcement of the south aisle of the church of St John Maddermarket with ironwork was the subject of satirical verses published in the Norfolk Chronicle on 8 August 1772.
The Norwich Mercury for 3 September 1785, recorded the death of his wife. Rawlins died four years later, on Wednesday 18 March 1789, and is commemorated by a stone in the floor of St John Maddermarket (Norwich Mercury, 21 March 1789).
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 315; Colvin 1995, 793