Thomas J. Clapperton

Thomas John Clapperton FRBS (14 October 1879 – 15 February 1962) was a Scottish sculptor, famous for the statue of Robert the Bruce at the entrance of Edinburgh Castle erected in 1929.

Biography Clapperton was born on 14 October 1879 in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, the son of the photographer John William Clapperton.

Although commissioned to design a monument to Mungo Park in Selkirk this was ultimately executed by the more experienced Andrew Currie. In the First World War he served in India. His work overseas includes a war memorial in New Zealand, a sculpture in Canada and a fountain in California. Milligan was inspired by Sir George Frampton's 1913 Peter Pan statue in London's Kensington Gardens and wanted a similar sculpture for Oamaru. Milligan was referred to Clapperton since he had been a pupil of Frampton's. The sculpture is entitled 'Wonderland Statue' and was gifted by the mayor to his city. The work appears more ornate and intricate than the Peter Pan statue. It is reported that Harold Richmond so loved Clapperton's Wonderland Statue in the Oamaru Gardens as a child, that later as an adult he gifted two statues (sculpted by Cecil Thomas) to the Dunedin Botanic Garden. One statue is of Peter Pan, and the other is of Wendy and her brothers.

Clapperton was elected a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors in 1938.

Public works