Francis John Williamson

Francis John Williamson (17 July 1833 – 12 March 1920 reputed to have been Queen Victoria's favourite.

Career

After studying under John Bell he was an articled pupil of John Henry Foley for seven years, and his studio assistant for a further fourteen. (The memorial was subsequently moved to St George's Church, Esher.

He met his future wife, Elizabeth Smith, while staying in Esher and they married in 1857 where he eventually died. The building (later named "The Bunch of Grapes" and now "Grapes House" ) is extant, and carries a blue plaque, erected by the Esher Residents Association in 2010, in commemoration of Williamson.

His younger brother John Henry Williamson (born ) was a silversmith.

List of selected works

Bust of Samuel Timmins, now in the Library of Birmingham Statue of Sister Dora, Walsall Memorial to Prince Leopold and Princess Charlotte, now at St George's Church, Esher, Surrey Memorial Bust of the Duke of Albany, Christ Church, Esher Diamond Jubilee Memorial, Esher Tomb of William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher and Viscountess Esher, Christ Church churchyard, Esher The Shrubsole Memorial, Market Place, Kingston upon Thames Bust of Lord Tennyson Bust of Thomas Pretious Heslop Queen Victoria, bust, many copies life size marble statue of Queen Victoria at Kings Park, Perth (1902) Hypatia His Royal Highness Prince Edward of York Monument to James Young Gibson in Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh (1887) Jesus as the Good Shepherd Allegory of Fame Rewarding the Arts, Pediment, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (1884) a statue of Sir Josiah Mason (1885; destroyed) bronze cast of the bust, by William Bloye (1952) statue of George Dawson (1885; destroyed) bronze cast of bust, by Bloye (1951; stolen, presumed scrapped) statue of John Skirrow Wright (1883; destroyed) bronze cast of bust, by Bloye (1956) Joseph Priestley statue, now in Chamberlain Square, Birmingham (Bronze, cast in 1951 from marble original of 1874) Memorial to Dean Milman, St Paul's Cathedral statue of Hugh Stowell Brown, (1889) now restored and in Hope Street, Liverpool