Figure 1.--This is the scholar boy at the base of the sculpture in homor of Sir Humphrey Chetham (1580-1653) located in Manchester Cathedral. The Sculptor is William Theed. It was done in 1853. Chetham helped set up a hospital / blue coat school for forty poor boys. Concerned that when he died that Parliament would seize his estate and stop supporing the school. He established a trust to support the school in perpetuity. You can see the boy's uniform, hair style, cap, and books. Photograph courtesy of William Ferguson.

William Theed is also known as William Theed, the younger. He is described as versatile and eclectic in his choice works, including both nythology nd history. He worked in both brone and marble and received many commissions from the Royal Family. His specialty was portraiture. William was born in Trentham, Staffordshire. (1804). His father was sculptor and painter William Theed the elder (1764–1817). We knownothig about his childhood. He was trained as a boy by his father. He worked for several years in the studio of EH Baily the sculptor, perhaps beginning as an aprentce. He was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools (1820). He continued his studies in Rome (1826). There he studied under Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and Italian Pietro Tenerani, as well as John Gibson and Richard James Wyatt. He remaine in Rome 20 years, workig in marble creating statues and busts. His patrons included the Duke of Lucca and the Prince and Princess of Capua. He returned to England after obtining a commission from Prince Albert (1844-45). He had John Gibson (a close friend of Theed) to submit designs for statues to be placed in Osborne House. Designs by Theed were accepted. There weremarbles (Narcissus at the Fountain and Psyche Lamenting the Loss of Cupid) and a bronze of Sir Isaac Newton. Theed returned to London (1848). He established a highly successful practice. He ave married Mary and had a son Edward, both listed in the 1881 census. He displayed three pieces at the Great Exhibition (1851). Particularly impressive was a marble of The Prodigal's Return. The work here shows Sir Humprey Chetham with a blue coat scholar at the Chetham Hospital School (figure 1). It was done for Manchester Cathedral (1853). Theed did additional works for Pribe Albert, used in Buckingham Palace. A notable work of the Royal Family was a series of twelve bas-reliefs illustrating scenes from Tudor history. They wre bronzes made for the Prince's chamber in the Palace of Westminster. Of historical interest is doublr portrait sculpture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They are depicted in Anglo-Saxon Dress at the suggestion of Victoria, the Crown Princess of Prussia (the Princess Royal, eldest daugter Victoria and Albert). The sculpture was meant to symbolise the ties between the German and English peoples from Anglo-Saxon times to the marriage of Victoria and Albert. This might have been the course of European histoy as the Princess royal married the liberal Prussian Crown Prince Frederich. Thus was not to be the course of history. Federich dies within months of becoming kaiser. And their son Wilhelm with a very different outlook became kaidser as Wilhelm II.

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Created: 9:08 PM 1/14/2018
Last updated: 9:08 PM 1/14/2018