Thomas Earp
Other names: Earp, Son and Hobbs (1889)
Active: 1851 - 1893
Function: Architectural sculptor, stone carver, sculptor
History or description: A highly successful firm of architectural sculptors and stone carvers founded by Thomas Earp (1828-93) in the early 1850s. Within a decade, the business was employing 21 men and 3 apprentices (1861). The firm expanded in 1864 when Earp went into partnership with Edwin Hobbs Senior (c.1841-1904) and they opened premises in Manchester on Lower Mosley Street. Edwin Hobbs oversaw the Manchester business from Chorlton-upon-Medlock and then Moss Side. The London side of the firm continued to trade as Thomas Earp until the late 1880s when it became Earp, Son and Hobbs. By 1910 they had become Earp, Hobbs and Miller, continuing under that name in Manchester until the early 1940s.
A son by Thomas's first marriage to Isabelle, Arthur C. Earp (born c.1855 in Lambeth) was probably working for the family business as a sculptor in 1881. However there seems to be no trace of him at a later date. A son by Thomas's second marriage to Ellen, Edgar Thomas Earp is presumed to be the 'Son' named in the partnership in the 1890s.
Earp and Hobbs were considered one of the finest firms of ecclesiastical carvers of the period. They also undertook extensive architectural schemes on public and private buildings throughout the country. Earp collaborated with many architects, among them: George Gilbert Scott, Pugin, Teulon and George Edmund Street. Earp's works include the pulpit at St James the Less, Westminster (1860-1), the carving on the Eleanor Cross, Charing Cross (1863) and the reredos at Exeter Cathedral (1870-7).
Employees, Students & Members
Numbers: 24
Period Start: 1861
Locations
Address 23 Meads Row Lambeth London | View on map
1861 (Circa)
Located at 49 Kennington Road London | View on map
1871 (Circa) - 1893
Located at Little Canterbury Place Lambeth Walk London | View on map
1880 (Circa) - 1890 (Circa)
Institutional and Business Connections
Established Earp, Hobbs & Miller (by 1900)
1864
The partnership originated between Thomas Earp (1828-93) who founded the London branch of the firm and Edwin Hobbs who ran the office in Manchester
Forerunner of Earp and Hobbs Ltd.
1900 (Circa)
Associated People
Trade name of Edgar Thomas Earp
Presumed to be employed in his father's business
Trade name of Thomas Earp
1851 (Circa) - 1893
Business became Earp, Son and Hobbs c.1890
Descriptions of Business or Institution
Listed in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
'Architectural Sculptor (Employing 21 Men and 3 Apprentices)'
Listed in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
'Sculptor'
Listed in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
'Sculptor'
Listed in Post Office London Directory, 1890 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
'Architectural Sculptor'
Listed in Post Office London Directory, 1880 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
'Sculptor'
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
p. 403
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2004
RG09 piece 351 folio 9 page 19
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
2004
RG10 piece 657 folio 6 page 6
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
2004
RG11 piece 589 folio 17 page 28
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
2004
RG11 piece 676 folio 41 page 31 (reference for Arthur C. Earp)
Post Office London Directory, 1880 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1880
p. 1811
Post Office London Directory, 1890 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1890
p. 1997
Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester Public Sculpture of Britain
2004
p. 443
Citing this record
'Thomas Earp', 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/organization.php?id=ann_1296685899, accessed 23 Mar 2023]
