Details of Sculptor

Surname

Vardy

Alternative Surname

First Name

Thomas

Initial of Surname

V

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1755-89

Year of Death

Biographical Details

Vardy was a furniture carver and the brother of the architect John Vardy. In 1763 he was described in Mortimer’s Universal Director as a ‘carver’ of Park Street, Grosvenor Square (p 28).
On 9 July 1755 he submitted an estimate of £450 for executing all the carving designed by George Dance (1695-1768) for the great hall of the Mansion House, but his estimate was not accepted.The contract went to John Fowler Nicholl and William How who quoted £437 (Mansion Hse Comm 01/01/2 p 764). In 1767 Vardy carved tablets for chimneypieces at Hill Park (1), then being built for Lord Hillsborough by the architect Henry Holland (Holland’s account-book, SJSM). He also made several chimneypieces for Cobham Hall, Kent, including ‘a very pretty one’ in 1773 for the blue damask room (2) (Archives, Earl of Darnley, cited by Gunnis 1968, 408).
In 1774 Thomas’s daughter, Sarah, married Richard Westmacott I. In 1789 Thomas took his grandson, Sir Richard Westmacott RA, as an apprentice (Joiner’s Apprentice Bindings, Guildhall, London, vol 7, 215, 24 June 1789). The will of Richard Westmacott I describes Sarah Vardy (Westmacott’s wife) as ‘Sarah, daughter of the late Thomas Vardy of Park Street.’
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 408; Busco 1994, 6
Will: PROB 11/1483, 253-4, proved July 1808 (Richard Westmacott I )