Details of Sculptor

Surname

Blore

Alternative Surname

First Name

Robert I and II, of Piccadilly

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1759-1838

Year of Death

Biographical Details

Monuments and tablets by the Blores can be found all over England and as far afield as Gibraltar and Barbados. It is difficult to distinguish between works by the elder and younger Blore, since they seem to have worked together from about 1790. Gunnis comments that although the firm’s works are always well carved, the designs are dull and uninteresting. The monument to William Ettrick was originally intended for Bishop-Wearmouth church but was too large and so was erected at High Barnes, the Ettrick family seat (27). It cost ‘with the addition of a basement or pedestal by Jopling of Gateshead, upward of £500’ (Surtees I, 1816-42, 239). The modest tablet to the Bishop of Ely, which has a dove marble ground and white marble inscription and vase, cost £85 4s with package and freight (29; Archives Lady Lucas and Dingwall, in GPC).
The elder Blore became bankrupt in 1818 and retired about two years later. Robert Blore the younger then took over the firm. He was the son of William Blore, a carpenter, and presumably related to his predecessor. In 1795 he had married Emma Earley, who was related to the Carter family of sculptors, at St Luke, Chelsea. Some time after 1830 he went into partnership with a former pupil, George Wilcox. The younger Blore became the subject of considerable public interest in 1825 when he brought an action for libel against John Stockdale, publisher of the Memoirs of the courtesan Harriette Wilson. He objected to Harriette’s claim that, as a married man, he had proposed to Harriette’s sister Fanny and that she described him as a ridiculous and uncouth figure. The court upheld his complaint and awarded him £300 in damages. He died in 1838 and is buried in Kensal Green cemetery (Add inf. Bob Moulder).
Literary References: The Times, 27 July 1818, 2; 24 August 1818, 2; 2 July 1825, 3-4; 14 November 1825, 3; Gunnis 1968, 57; Wilson 2004, 233-8; add inf Catherine Blore