Garland – a south London sculptor and monumental mason – was son of William Garland (b.c.1791), stonemason and builder, and his wife Mary Ann. The third of eight children and second son of four, he was born on 23rd September 1815. From about 1814, though possibly a little earlier, William Garland was in partnership with the builder Henry Fieldwick (as Garland & Fieldwick) based at a yard behind buildings that they probably themselves put up in 1814–1815 at 16 Grosvenor Place, Camberwell Road (later 86 Camberwell Road). These included a house on the south side of the yard entrance where William Garland appears to have lived from about 1817 to his death in 1875. Richard was born in Newington, possibly before the family move to Grosvenor Place, and was baptised there at St Mary’s, on 20th February 1816.
At the 1841–1861 censuses he was listed as a ‘Sculptor’ and lived at Grosvenor Place until his marriage on 18th December 1849, at St Peter’s, Walworth, to Ellen Kiddle (1826–1912) of Carter Street in that parish. They had eight children: Richard Kiddle (b.1850), Ellen (1852), William (1854), Alfred (1856), Joseph (1857), Albert (1861), Percy (1863) and Beatrice (1865). From 1850 their first home was at 74 Albany Road, Camberwell; by 1856 they had moved to 33 Brunswick Terrace, Newington, then 1 Addington Square, Camberwell by 1863. At the 1871 census Richard was listed there as a ‘Marble Mason’. All these addresses are within short walk of the family building yard and so are the churches. The first six of their children were baptised at St Peter’s, Walworth, no doubt in the font that Richard carved for it in 1839 when his father William was a churchwarden there; the last two were baptised at St George’s, Camberwell.
William Garland’s partnership with Henry Fieldwick (d.1865) was dissolved on the latter’s retirement in April 1864. William then continued on his own for some years until succeeded by Richard, who does not seem to have been as competent since he became bankrupt in March 1874. Still at Addington Square in 1881 he was then described as a ‘Builder & Sculptor’ and in 1891 – aged 75 – he and his 35-year-old son Alfred were both listed as ‘Monumental Carver & Engraver’ and resident at 18 Derwent Grove, Camberwell. This was his last home and in 1901 he was noted as a ‘Retired Builder’. His sons Richard and Alfred, both ‘Monumental Masons’ were also still there.
Garland died aged 87 on 22nd August 1903, still recorded as of Derwent Grove, but his burial record at Norwood cemetery says that his body was removed from the Camberwell Workhouse in Constance Road. He had been admitted there as ‘alleged insane’ on 12th August but that was subsequently clarified as ‘senile dementia’ and he last ate on the 18th. His widow, Ellen, also ended her days in Camberwell, living at 523 Lordship Lane with her daughter Beatrice: she and her husband William Blaxland were in the steam-laundry business, Beatrice noted in 1911 as a depot manager. Her brother Richard – no longer a mason but a ‘Parliamentary Agent’s clerk’ – and Alfred, ‘Cemetery monumental letter cutter’ were also both listed there in the 1911 census.
To date the only identified portrait work by Garland is a posthumous marble bust of the optical instrument maker John Dollond (1706–61). It was commissioned and presented to the Royal Society in 1843 by his maternal grandson, George Dollond FRS (1774–1852). The son of John’s daughter, Susan, he was born George Huggins but in 1805 changed his name on entering partnership with John’s son, Peter. George almost certainly knew the Garlands as neighbours and perhaps through attending the same local churches: from 1841, at latest, he lived almost immediately west of their Grosvenor Place premises at North Terrace, Camberwell. That would account for the commission to Richard for his grandfather’s marble likeness.
In 1893 George’s own marble bust was presented to the Society by his great-nephew, A.W. Dollond. In doing so he said it was ‘by Garland, … the same sculptor’ (Proceedings…[1895], vol. 57, p. 45), though it is neither signed nor dated and more sophisticated. In June 2024 it was established that this was misidentification through family confusion. It represents George late in life and is one of a pair by Charles Summers (1825–1878), then of Pimlico. He was also known to Dollond, whose will shows that he owned a number of (unidentified) busts and has two codicils which Summers signed as a witness in November 1851 and January 1852.
In 1850 Summers appears to have modelled both the bust of George and his friend and patron, the wealthy amateur astronomer, Henry Lawson FRS, at Bath, where Lawson lived. The finished and signed marble of Lawson was shown at the RA in 1851 (no. 1377) with a plaster version of Dollond ‘proposed to be executed in marble’ (no. 1366) and probably completed between then and George’s death in May 1852. This is the one now in the Royal Society.
Apart from the two Dollond busts, both Gunnis and Roscoe list considerable carved work by the firm of Garland & Fieldwick, including twelve funerary monuments. The first is dated by death of subject as ‘1807 (?)’ but could be later and the rest from 1815 to 1847. Richard Garland’s font for St Peter’s Walworth (1839) shows he was probably involved from the mid-1830s on. The 1814–1815 Garland & Fieldwick frontage on Camberwell Road survives, fully converted to houses, with examples of their relief carving preserved as part of the façade on the north side of the in-filled gateway to the yard behind. Now called ‘Stonemason’s Yard’, that has also been redeveloped as modern housing.
Summarised from Art UK's Art Detective discussion ‘Could anyone tell us more about the sculptor of these portrait busts of opticians in the collection of The Royal Society?’
William Garland’s partnership with Henry Fieldwick (d.1865) was dissolved on the latter’s retirement in April 1864. William then continued on his own for some years until succeeded by Richard, who does not seem to have been as competent since he became bankrupt in March 1874. Still at Addington Square in 1881 he was then described as a ‘Builder & Sculptor’ and in 1891 – aged 75 – he and his 35-year-old son Alfred were both listed as ‘Monumental Carver & Engraver’ and resident at 18 Derwent Grove, Camberwell. This was his last home and in 1901 he was noted as a ‘Retired Builder’. His sons Richard and Alfred, both ‘Monumental Masons’ were also still there.
Garland died aged 87 on 22nd August 1903, still recorded as of Derwent Grove, but his burial record at Norwood cemetery says that his body was removed from the Camberwell Workhouse in Constance Road. He had been admitted there as ‘alleged insane’ on 12th August but that was subsequently clarified as ‘senile dementia’ and he last ate on the 18th. His widow, Ellen, also ended her days in Camberwell, living at 523 Lordship Lane with her daughter Beatrice: she and her husband William Blaxland were in the steam-laundry business, Beatrice noted in 1911 as a depot manager. Her brother Richard – no longer a mason but a ‘Parliamentary Agent’s clerk’ – and Alfred, ‘Cemetery monumental letter cutter’ were also both listed there in the 1911 census.
To date the only identified portrait work by Garland is a posthumous marble bust of the optical instrument maker John Dollond (1706–61). It was commissioned and presented to the Royal Society in 1843 by his maternal grandson, George Dollond FRS (1774–1852). The son of John’s daughter, Susan, he was born George Huggins but in 1805 changed his name on entering partnership with John’s son, Peter. George almost certainly knew the Garlands as neighbours and perhaps through attending the same local churches: from 1841, at latest, he lived almost immediately west of their Grosvenor Place premises at North Terrace, Camberwell. That would account for the commission to Richard for his grandfather’s marble likeness.
In 1893 George’s own marble bust was presented to the Society by his great-nephew, A.W. Dollond. In doing so he said it was ‘by Garland, … the same sculptor’ (Proceedings…[1895], vol. 57, p. 45), though it is neither signed nor dated and more sophisticated. In June 2024 it was established that this was misidentification through family confusion. It represents George late in life and is one of a pair by Charles Summers (1825–1878), then of Pimlico. He was also known to Dollond, whose will shows that he owned a number of (unidentified) busts and has two codicils which Summers signed as a witness in November 1851 and January 1852.
In 1850 Summers appears to have modelled both the bust of George and his friend and patron, the wealthy amateur astronomer, Henry Lawson FRS, at Bath, where Lawson lived. The finished and signed marble of Lawson was shown at the RA in 1851 (no. 1377) with a plaster version of Dollond ‘proposed to be executed in marble’ (no. 1366) and probably completed between then and George’s death in May 1852. This is the one now in the Royal Society.
Apart from the two Dollond busts, both Gunnis and Roscoe list considerable carved work by the firm of Garland & Fieldwick, including twelve funerary monuments. The first is dated by death of subject as ‘1807 (?)’ but could be later and the rest from 1815 to 1847. Richard Garland’s font for St Peter’s Walworth (1839) shows he was probably involved from the mid-1830s on. The 1814–1815 Garland & Fieldwick frontage on Camberwell Road survives, fully converted to houses, with examples of their relief carving preserved as part of the façade on the north side of the in-filled gateway to the yard behind. Now called ‘Stonemason’s Yard’, that has also been redeveloped as modern housing.
Summarised from Art UK's Art Detective discussion ‘Could anyone tell us more about the sculptor of these portrait busts of opticians in the collection of The Royal Society?’
Text source: Art Detective
