Details of Sculptor

Surname

Annis

Alternative Surname

First Name

James

Initial of Surname

A

Year of Birth/Baptism

c1709

Flourished

Year of Death

1775

Biographical Details

The son of John Annis, he was apprenticed to his brother, another John Annis, in 1723 and became free of the Masons’ Company on 1 May 1730. He succeeded his brother as mason to the Ironmongers’ Company in 1740 and worked there, 1743-46, possibly in partnership with his mother, for a payment of 1744 is made to them both. He also worked as a mason at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, receiving £361 between 1754 and 1767. His yard was in Aldersgate Street and one of his long-term assistants was a Richard Finch.
Annis was a competent statuary and Gunnis considered his monument to Sir George Fettiplace, 1743, at Swinbrook, (2) to be ‘of real importance, for the modelling and cutting of the portrait-bust is magnificent and not unworthy of a Rysbrack’. Whinney concurred with this judgement, though the bust is poorly articulated, revealing Annis’s lesser abilities. He also signs the monument to Zachariah Foxall which has a cherub unveiling a medallion portrait (4). He, not his sibling, must have been responsible for the architectural monuments to Thomas Hawes (1) and John Styleman (3).
On 24 April 1756 Annis married Sarah Chapman at St Dionis Backchurch in London. He was renter warden of the Masons’ Company in 1764, upper warden in 1765, and became master a year later. In 1748 he took as an apprentice his nephew William, son of John Annis. William Annis gained his freedom on 7 May 1756.
He died in Aldersgate on 14 June 1775. He asked to be buried with a ‘handsome head and foot stone’ in his late brother’s vault. He left £300 to his wife and the dividends from shares valued at £500. Over £600 in named gifts was distributed to other members of the family.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 18; Whinney 1988, 245
Archival References: Masons’ Co, Freemen, fol 1; Assistants, fols 3, 5; Court Book, 1722-51 (28 March 1723); 1751-96 (14 June 1765 & 14 June 1766, 14 June 1775); Ironmongers WA, vol 12; IGI
Additional MS Sources: Archives, Royal College of Physicians; St Bartholomew's Hospital Archives
Will: PROB 11/1008/218