Details of Sculptor

Surname

Cockaine

Alternative Surname

First Name

James

Initial of Surname

C

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

Year of Death

1823

Biographical Details

His insurance policy for his premises at 5 Tottenham Court Road, describes him in 1808 as a 'figure maker in plaster and brass' (Sun Fire Office, Guildhall Library MS 11936/445/816489). Around this time he was also a dealer in raw plaster, supplying Francis Chantrey. He produced good copies after the antique, including a reduction of the Cleopatra, a signed and dated cast of which survives in the Ashmolean Museum, presumably a surviving part of the extensive collection of casts given to the museum in 1842 by Chantrey’s widow (1).

Later he exhibited his own busts at the Royal Academy, giving addresses at 85 Newman Street and 5 New Road. His will was proved on 1 December 1823, in which he left £200 to his daughter Emily, and a sum to her mother, Caroline Groves, to enable them to go into 'shopkeeping'. He also mentioned a Dublin-based brother, John Cockaine, and a nephew, Rev James Cockaine, who lived in Bristol (PROB 11/1678/196).

MGS

Literary References: Sullivan 2010, 295