Reuben Townroe was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England on 29 October 1835 and studied under Alfred Stevens (1817-1875) at Sheffield School of Design, where a fellow student was James Gamble (c.1835–1911). Following the completion of their course Townroe and Gamble moved to London and were employed as assistants to Godfrey Sykes (1824-1866) on the architectural decorations for the South Kensington Museum [now Victoria & Albert Museum] in London and following Sykes' death in 1866 the pair took over his workshop and completed the scheme. The features they designed for the museum over the next two decades included mosaic panel portraying Bernard Palissy for the museum’s South Court (1864); a stained glass window for the North Staircase (1867); mosaic lunettes and panels on the façade of the Lecture Theatre (1868); and fifteen mosaic panels above the windows outside the library building (c.1881).
In addition to his work as a sculptor and decorative designer. Townroe was also a painter and medallist.
Townroe subsequently worked as an independent sculptor and modeller of brickwork. He was also a painter.
Townroe participated in the third exhibition of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society at the New Gallery in London in 1890, at which he showed designs for panels executed in ceramic mosaic in the quadrangle of the new permanent buildings, South Kensington Museum. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1875 and 1880. In 1909 he was awarded the Royal Academy's Turner Fund.
Townroe's address was given as 91 Church Street, Chelsea, London (1875-1881); Pentre Farm, Pentre, Oswestry, Shropshire (1891); and 48 Gertrude Street, Chelsea, London (1891-1911). He died on 16 April 1911.
Text source: Arts + Architecture Profiles from Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/
