Turner Fund (Royal Academy of Arts), 1856-1951
Start Date: 1856 (Circa)
End Date: 1951
Type: Scholarship
Description: The medal was designed by Daniel Maclise and executed by L. C. Wyon, and first awarded in 1857 (Hutchison, 1968, p. 117). The first sculptor to be listed as a recipient of the award in the Royal Academy Annual Reports, is J. Sherwood Westmacott in 1875.
Policy: This fund derived from a portion of the estate of J. M. W. Turner, RA, which was allotted to the Royal Academy by the Court of Chancery in 1856, without conditions. The income was used for grants to 'Artists of reputation, not Members of the Academy', for a biennial gold medal and scholarship to a student of the Royal Academy for a landscape painting and for annual contributions towards the support of the Royal Academy Schools (Hutchison, 1968, p. 117).
Participants
Beneficiaries included James Sherwood Westmacott
1 June 1875
Listed as a Turner Fund Annuitant in 1875.
Beneficiaries included Timothy Butler
20 March 1877
Elected as a 'Turner Annuitant' (for sculpture)on this date.
Beneficiaries included Edward Davis
16 July 1878 - August 1878
Davis was elected as 'Turner Annuitant' of the Royal Academy. However, the artist died within a month of his election. See 'Annual Report, 1878', 1879, p. 22.
Beneficiaries included Joseph Edwards
19 July 1881
Elected as 'Turner Annuitant' in 1881. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1881', 1882, p. 23.
Beneficiaries included John Bell
1888
Listed as a recipient of the Turner Fund in 1888.
Beneficiaries included Carl Muller
1895
Recipient of the Turner Fund.
Beneficiaries included Reuben Townroe
1909
Recipient of Turner Fund in 1909.
Beneficiaries included Arthur John Smith
8 June 1916
Listed as a Turner Fund Annuitant in 1916.
Beneficiaries included Arthur J. Fidler
1916
Listed as a Turner Fund Annuitant in 1916.
Beneficiaries included William Silver Frith
1 November 1923
Listed as a Turner Fund Annuitant in 1922.
Beneficiaries included Andrea Carlo Lucchesi
6 May 1924
Listed as a Turner Fund Annuitant in 1924.
Beneficiaries included Conrad Bührer
1924
Received a £20 Turner Fund gift for sculpture.
Beneficiaries included Edgar George Papworth Jnr
29 July 1924
Received a £20 Turner Fund gift for sculpture.
Participants included Leonard Charles Wyon
1896
Responsible for making Turner Fund medal.
Sources
Annual Report from the Council of The Royal Academy to the General Assembly of Academicians for the Year 1924, 1925 Royal Academy Annual Reports
20 February 1925
p. 20
The History of the Royal Academy 1768-1968
1968
p. 117
Citing this record
'Turner Fund (Royal Academy of Arts), 1856-1951', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/event.php?id=msib4_1262859114, accessed 10 Jun 2023]
