William Robert Colton was a sculptor and member of the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

. He was born in Paris on the 25th December 1867 and died on the 13th November 1921.
Colton enjoyed a long association with the Royal Academy. He had enrolled as a student in 1889 and during his life was elected as an Associate to the Royal Academy on the 21st January 1903 and as a full member on the 25th April 1919. He was Professor of Sculpture from 1907 to 1911.
He started his studies in England at the Lambeth School of Art where he studied under William Silver Frith

William Silver Frith

William Silver Frith was a British sculptor.Frith graduated from the Lambeth School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, and became assistant to Jules Dalou. By 1880 Frith had succeeded Dalou as master at the newly formed South London Technical Art School...

 (1850–1924) and at Royal Academy Schools, where he trained under Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm. He also studied in Paris.
At the age of 20 he commenced his career as a sculptor, initially establishing a studio at St John’s Wood in London. In 1911 he moved to Kensington.
It is recorded that he received, at an early stage in his career, a commission from the Maharajah of Mysore and he was to receive commissions from India throughout his career.
He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and amongst his busts shown there were-: HH The Maharajah of Mysore (1905); Sir Sheshadri Iyer, Dewan of Mysore (1907); Field-Marshal Earl Roberts (1915); Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Roos Keppel (1916); Marjorie Brassey (1917); Diana (1917) and the Rt Hon H H Asquith (1920).
In 1902 Colton married Mignon Kroll de Laporte and they had two daughters. He was a Member of the Standing Committee of Advice for Education in Art at the Board of Education and a Principal Examiner for that Board in Modelling and Sculpture. After a distinguished career as both sculptor and teacher, Robert Colton died at the young age of 53 on 13 November 1921 at St Mary Abbot’s Place, Kensington from the effects of an operation some four weeks previously.

War Memorials

These include:-

1. The Worcester Boer War Memorial which takes the form of a bronze hatless figure, who is protected by an angel . It stands on a plinth in the grounds of Worcester Cathedral . It was restored in 2005. The memorial is dedicated to the men of Worcestershire killed in the South African War. The memorial consists of a three-stepped base surmounted by a plinth, pedestal and figure of a soldier of the Worcester Regiment kneeling as he prepares to fire his last cartridge. A winged figure said to represent “Immortality” stands above him. The winged figure has a palm branch in one hand, that held over the soldier’s head, and in the other hand holds a sheathed sword with laurel wreath on it. The memorial was unveiled on the 23rd September 1908 by Lt.Gen.the Hon Sir N G Lyttleton.
See photograph below taken in 2009.
2. The Royal Artillery Boer War Memorial on the corner of St James’s Park in The Mall in central London. The memorial was designed by Sir Aston Webb and the bronze sculpture, including Pegasus and the two relief tablets, were executed by Colton. Completed in 1909 the composition was described by Colton as "War being controlled by peace, war being represented by a war horse & peace being a winged female figure. In the same letter Colton writes that the work “has become in a sense a part of the Queen Victoria Memorial Scheme".The pillars list the 1,078 men who died in the South African war of 1899-1902 and relief panels show the unit in action. The memorial was unveiled in 1920 by the Duke of Connaught, using a electronic remote control from a memorial service in St Paul’s Cathedral.The memorial was erected by the officers and men of the Royal Artillery in memory of their honoured dead. The pedestal is in Portland stone and the sculpture, reliefs and panels with the names of those remembered, are all in bronze. Recently taken photographs of the two reliefs are shown below and the composition at the memorial top.
3. The W.T.Wyllie memorial in Portsmouth Cathedral. This is positioned on the east wall of the Quire and east of the Corporation Pew and remembers the second son of William Lionel and Marion Amy Wyllie. William Thomas Wyllie served with the 2nd Durham Light Infantry and was killed in action at Montauban on the Somme on the 19th July 1916. He was acting as a Brigade Major at the time and is buried in Mametz Cemetery. He left a widow and three children. The memorial features a sculptured figure in silhouette/high relief which lies along the bottom half. This figure is the dead body of an officer lying on his back, arms by his side. His shirt sleeves are rolled up and he wears braces, trousers and boots. His head rests on a cushion surrounded by a laurel wreath. The inscription is incised in white lettering along the top half of the memorial. The bronze founders were Messrs A.B.Burton. The inscription reads "IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE SECOND SON OF WILLIAM LIONEL AND MARION AMY WYLLIE. WILLIAM THOMAS WYLLIE 2ND DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY KILLED IN ACTION AT MONTAUBAN ON THE 19TH JULY 1916 WHILST ACTING AS BRIGADE MAJOR AND BURIED IN MAMETZ CEMETERY HE LEAVES A WIDOW AND THREE CHILDREN".

William Thomas Wyllie (1851–1931) was a renowned marine artist. Sadly the Wyllie's had already lost a son, Robert Theodore Morrison, at Ypres on 1 November 1914 at the age of 26. He had no known grave and is one of the many commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.(Panel 54). Robert belonged to the 1/14th Bn London Regiment (London Scottish) and his regiment were engaged in the Battle of Messines, 12 October to 2 November 1914. Wyllie dedicated a painting to the memory of his son and this hangs in Portsmouth Cathedral. The painting is called "THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES" and is based on the story in St John's Gospel, Chapter 21. Some photographs of Colton's bronze are shown below as is a photograph of the painting. In the bottom left corner of the painting Wyllie has written "In memory of our beloved son Robert Theodore Morrison H Company 1st Bn London Scottish Who fell at Messines on October 31st 1914". Below are some photographs of the Colton bronze and Wyllie's painting

4. The memorial tablet dedicated to Captain F C Selous DSO in the Natural History Museum in London. The tablet is positioned at the head of the northwest staircase in the Central Hall. The figure and plaque are in bronze and the tablet is in stone. The memorial consists of a cast bronze portrait of Captain Selous in uniform and carrying a rifle. This is set into a niche in the stone tablet. Below the niche is a bronze relief of lions. The inscriptions are arranged in two side panels in raised block lettering. The sculptor’s name is placed at the bottom right. The inscription on the left panel reads- “CAPTAIN/FREDERICK C./SELOUS D.S.O/HUNTER/EXPLORER &/NATURALIST.” On on the right panel “BORN 1851/KILLED IN/ACTION AT/BEHO-BEHO/GERMAN EAST/ AFRICA 4.1.1917”. Selous was buried in East Africa in what is now Tanzania.

Here are photographs of the bust and relief.
5. At St Dunstans Church in Cranbrook, Kent, there is an alabaster memorial to Boyd and Claude Alexander who were both killed in action in Africa. Boyd Alexander served in the Rifle Brigade and was killed at Nyeri on the 2nd April 1910 and is remembered on the left side panel and Claud Alexander who served in the Scots Guards and was killed at Maifoni on the 13th November 1904 is remembered on the right side panel. A representation of Africa in the form of a female figure holding arrows is positioned in the centre with busts of the two dead men on either side. The left hand panel includes representations of animals and trees and the right hand panel features a landscape scene. Here is a photograph of Colton's bust of Boyd Alexander.
6. The Staffordshire County War Memorial Victoria Road,Stafford, was designed by Colton but his early death meant that the sculptor L.S.Merrifield has to complete the work. The memorial is dedicated to “TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF STAFFORSHIRE UNITS AND ALL OTHER STAFFORDSHIRE MEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR
COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918/ THEIR REST SHALL BE GLORIOUS/ NOS NOS INMEMORES” The memorial stands on a four-stepped base surmounted by two plinths and a column. In Colton’s composition we see the figure of an angel with olive branch and a horse. There is a Staffordshire knot on the front face of the pedestal. The memorial was completed in 1923. See photograph on the City of Stoke on Trent website.
Another photograph of this memorial is shown below.

Other works

1. The seated figure of King Edward VII at King Edward VII School, King’s Lynn a work executed in 1906.

2. The bronze relief the “Memorial to Sir Richard and George Tangye” (1916) in Birmingham City Art Gallery.

3. The statue “The Girdle/La Ceinture” (1898) which was purchased by the Chantrey Fund Trustees and is inTate Britain. A photograph of this remarkable work is shown below.

4. The work “In the Springtide of Life” (1903), which earned him election as an Associate of the Royal Academy and was also purchased for the Tate by the Chantrey Trustees. This work is now in the Harris Museum

Harris Museum

The Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Preston Free Public Library is a Grade I listed museum building in Preston and has the largest gallery space in Lancashire, England.- History :...

 in Preston, Lancashire.

5. His Diploma Work the bust of “The Young Diana” and his bust of “Dr Henry Wells Armstead“ (1902) both of which can be seen at Burlington House.

6. In Sydney, Australia , a statue of the explorer Captain Matthew Flinders which stands in front of the Mitchell Library and was unveiled in 1925. See photograph below:-
7. The work “Little Nell” in Hyde Park (the 1896 original has been replaced by a copy).

8. The 1911 work in the Art Gallery of New South Wales called “Love’s Bondage”

9. The 1897 work “The Image Finder” in Nottingham Castle

10. The Angas Memorial in Adelaide, Australia. See photograph below.

Images

Here are images of some of Colton’s best known works.

External links

• http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Colton,_William_Robert_(1867-1921),_Sculptor An article on The National Archives dealing with Colton and in particular The Royal Artillery Boer War Memorial.