Details of Sculptor

Surname

Burnell

Alternative Surname

First Name

Thomas and Sons, of London

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

1760-1821

Year of Death

Biographical Details

The firm is thought to have comprised Thomas Burnell, his son Henry and the latter’s son, Thomas. The elder Thomas was born about 1740, the son of John Burnell ‘citizen and joiner’ and was apprenticed to Edward Anderson in 1754. He was made free of the Masons’ Company on 1 April 1762 and became Master in 1783. He was living in Wine Office Court, Fleet Street, London in 1774, when his name appeared in the apprenticeship binding book. His grandson, who was apprenticed to his father, Henry, gained his freedom by patrimony on 10 November 1795. In the late-18th century they were joined by a George Burnell, who had taken up his freedom in 1772.
The family may have been kinsmen of John Burnell, an alderman who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1788, since on his death in 1790 the Gentleman’s Magazine announced ‘His fortune, which is 60,000l. in the funds and Middlesex houses goes to his nephews, Mr. Tibbs and Mr. Burnell, the mason’ (GM 1790, i, 89). Thomas later attracted press attention through his acquaintance with Mary Anne Clarke, the colourful mistress of Frederick, Duke of York. One account of her life, published many years later, claims that as a young woman she lived in a house belonging to Burnell and in 1791 eloped with one of his apprentices (The News, 5 February 1819, cited by RG/JP 2, 217-8).
On 9 May 1792 Thomas was appointed mason to the Inner Temple. His grandson Thomas succeeded him in the post and was employed under the architect James Savage on the restoration of the Temple Church. The project’s soaring costs led to an inquiry and on 30 April 1841 the Committee of Members resolved that ‘Mr. Burnell be discharged from his present employment as Mason at the Temple Church’ (Gunnis 1968, 72).
Gunnis noted that monuments executed by the firm in the 18th century have ‘finely cut and beautifully finished details’ (Gunnis 1968, 72). The two most important examples are both in Northants. The D’Anvers family’s monument at Culworth, which is 16 feet high, takes the form of a sarcophagus with a cherub standing on either side (4). That commemorating John Blencowe at Marston St Lawrence has a finely executed urn (2).
An architect called Thomas Burnell who trained under Sir Robert Taylor exhibited architectural drawings at the Royal Academy in 1802 and 1806 and was still practising as an architect in Chancery Lane in 1814. He was probably a kinsman.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 72; Colvin 1995, 192
Archival References: Masons’ Co, Freemen, fols 7, 62; Court Book, 1751-96 (3 Oct 1754, 7 Aug 1772, 14 June 1783); Apprentice binding book (2)