Details of Sculptor

Surname

Wornell

Alternative Surname

First Name

John

Initial of Surname

W

Year of Birth/Baptism

1803

Flourished

Year of Death

Biographical Details

He was a modeller and designer for a number of industrial businesses. He was born in Woodstock, Oxford in c1803. In 1832 he was employed at a manufactory established by William Edwards in Burton-upon-Trent, and was still in Burton when he married in 1834. From 1843-4 he was employed as a Teacher of Modelling and Carving at the Government School of Design at Somerset House, London, on a salary of £85 per annum. According to an enthusiastic letter of recommendation from the Director of the school, Charles Heath Wilson, their new employee was 'an artist of extraordinary talent.. an admirable modeller' who had 'considerable knowledge of architecture, and of the various styles of ornament - a carver both in wood and stone' (quoted in Evans 2009, 101). In 1844 he was recommended by his successor in the post, Henry James Townsend, as a suitable candidate to model a deer for an inkstand to be presented to the Queen. It is not known how far Wornell was employed by the royal couple.

London Directories show him to have remained in London, living at 5 Greenland Place, Cromer Street, from 1845-7. By 1850 he was employed as a modeller at Grangemouth Terracotta Works, greatly improving the design of their fireclay stock. In 1851 the Census records him living at South Basin Street, Grangemouth with his wife, Sarah. He appears to have left by 1855, and by 1861 was living at Winlaton, near Gateshead. In the census for that year he describes himself as 'moddeller & sculptor' (quoted in Evans 2009, 105).

Literary References: Evans 2009, 96-106