Details of Sculptor

Surname

Whitelaw

Alternative Surname

First Name

William, of London

Initial of Surname

W

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1786-c1851

Year of Death

Biographical Details

William Whitelaw founded a prolific firm of monumental statuaries who supplied carved mural monuments and chimneypieces between the late eighteenth-century and the early 1850s. Rupert Gunnis, who considered most of the firm's works to be 'dull,' listed over thirty signed memorials by the company. William Whitelaw, ‘Statuary &c- Bath Place [Fitzroy Square, London]’ appears several times in the Longleat archives in 1807-12 (32), when he seems to have specialised in chimneypiece carving. He subsequently signed numerous mural monuments, including that to the explorer Captain Matthew Flinders, which features a competent carving of Flinders' ship. Indeed, Gunnis's verdict may be a little harsh, as Whitelaw was capable of varied and detailed work: the Tew monument has a fully clothed genius with wings, rising against a black slab (6), the St Vincent has a portrait bust (13) and the Wykeham, a weeping woman kneeling over an urn (14). Whitelaw died aged 60, on 8 January 1824 at his home in Great Woodstock Street. He is commemorated by a marble monument in nearby St Mary-on-Paddington Green (inf. Bob Speel), where he is described still as a 'Statuary late of Bath Place, New Road.' His wife, Lucy (d.1839), is commemorated with the same tablet. In his will he left a fairly extensive property portfolio in Bath Place, Portman Square, Mortimer Market and York Terrace.

The tenancy at 5 Bath Place was left to his brother James and his nephew John, and these two continued the family business, supplying monuments throughout the 1820s. The partnership between James and John, 'Statuaries and Stone Masons,' was dissolved in 1831 (Englishman, 22 May 1831), and the works appear to have continued solely under James, who is listed as a statuary at the premises in 1839 and 1847. In the 1830s the firm was still producing quality mural works, such as that to Rt. Hon. James Saumarez, Lord de Saumarez, which has relief figures of Faith and Hope, and a complex naval relief.

John's story appears to have become a little tawdry, as in February 1843, when living in 14 Manor Parish, Chelsea, he appeared in the Insolvency Court where his creditors attempted to pursue funds from his wife, an aged heiress, aged 71, with an 'immense fortune.' Whitelaw testified that, in fact, he had made an illegal marriage to the older lady, Ann Burnage, as he was already married to someone else. The situation became more complex when Burnage was found dead in 1846, and Whitelaw was widely rumoured to have murdered her. The sculptor appeared to face questioning at the inquest, where it emerged that Whitelaw, the deceased, and their nephew and niece, were 'inveterate drunkards.' The Coroner's opinion was that the death of the old lady was 'the consequence of excessive devotion to ardent spirits,' which left her frequently in a 'filthy, dirty state' rather than attributing her death to foul play (London Evening Standard, Monday 30 March 1846).

By 1851 the 'Old established stone and marble works' at 5 Bath Place were in the hands of 'G. Whitelaw,' who offered to supply 'marble chimney-pieces, monuments &c at unusually low prices' (Builder, 5 July 1851).

MGS

Literary References: New Times, 12 January 1824; London Courier and Evening Gazette, 21 May 1831; Englishman, 22 May 1831; Robson's London Directory, London 1839; London Evening Standard, 30 March 1846; Post Office London Directory, London 1847, 388; Builder, 5 July 1851, 426; Gunnis 1968, 431; Potterton 1975, 87
Archival References: Longleat HA 1800-1818
Will: Will of William Whitelaw, Statuary and Mason of St Pancras, PROB 11/1682/213.