Details of Sculptor

Surname

Whiting

Alternative Surname

First Name

John, of Northampton

Initial of Surname

W

Year of Birth/Baptism

1782

Flourished

Year of Death

1854

Biographical Details

An earlier member of the family seems to have been William Whiting who, in the Northampton Mercury of 31 July 1775, advertised that, together with John Middleton and a Mr John Lickfield, he wanted stone cutters for a quarry at Dunstan Heath, near Northampton. This quarry belonged originally to the Lumleys and the Whitings seem to have married into that family. John Whiting purchased his freedom of the town of Northampton on 15 March 1806, and his subsequent monumental work was almost exclusively for local patrons. Gunnis considered it on the whole ‘very uninteresting’. The Kerr tablet has a relief of the county hospital at the top (9) and the Samwell has a ‘well-cut’ relief of a mourning woman (11). He was apparently also responsible for a number of chimneypieces at Lamport Hall, Northants (14).
The following advertisement appeared in the Northampton Mercury of 14 June 1817: ‘Handsome Marble Monuments and Entablators, adapted for the deceased of both sexes in the best manner, on Terms remarkably cheap. A variety of Marble Chimney Pieces, for Drawing Rooms, Libraries, &c. of various dimensions; to be seen at J. Whiting’s, Statuary, Derngate, Northampton. N.B. Marble Mortars, Teneriffe filtering Stone, slate Cisterns, a Quantity of plain white Dutch Tiles, &c. &c.’
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 431
Archival References: GPC