Details of Sculptor

Surname

Bower

Alternative Surname

First Name

Joseph I and II

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1714-59

Year of Death

Biographical Details

The Bowers, father and son, were master-masons for the building of Wentworth Castle, Yorks, for Sir Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, between 1714 and 1722. They were also responsible for carved stonework for the house and later erected a number of structures in the gardens. In 1725 the younger Bower was paid £92 2s for making ‘the cascade in the menagerie’ at Stainborough and two years later he built three miniature towers named after the Earl’s daughters, Lucy, Anne and Harriett, each costing £4 15s. In 1734 his work included an obelisk erected in the park to the memory of Queen Anne and in 1739 he built a temple copied from one at Tivoli. In 1734-37 he received payments for an obelisk with incised lettering, and in 1742 for a column on a pedestal erected by William, 2nd Earl of Strafford in honour of his father-in-law, John, 2nd Duke of Argyll.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 59; Baker 1992, 793 n
Archival References: Strafford Papers, BM, Ad MS 22,241 fol 19, 34, 35, 63, 67, 82; Bower/Strafford Accts fol 75, 82, 89 (21 June 1739, Dec 1742, 30 Nov 1744)