Henry Wiles
Born 1838
Died 11 August 1930
Active: 1861 - 1911
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, medallist, teacher of drawing, baptist minister
Born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. He was the son of John Wiles (c.1813-1908 born in St. David's, Jamaica and died in Cambridge), a stone and marble mason employing two men and a boy in 1861 who ran a long-standing business in Brunswick Place, Cambridge. Henry Wiles's son, John Harper Wiles (born 1873 and active until at least 1911) became a designer working with lithographic processes. Amongst Henry Wiles's pupils was Charles Edmund Brock (1870–1938). He was one of a Cambridge-based family of three brothers (unrelated to the sculptor Thomas Brock) who all practiced as artists and illustrators in the late nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth.
Wealth at death: £256 1s. 0d.
Probate date: 19 September 1930
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Girl's Head
1884 (Presumed)
£15 15s.
Child with Rattle
1884 (Presumed)
£10 10s.
Boy's Head
1884 (Presumed)
£10 10s.
Locations
Address 18 and 19 Brunswick Place Cambridge | View on map
1841 (Circa) - 1861 (Circa)
Address 9 Regent Street Cambridge | View on map
1866 (Circa) - 1886 (Circa)
Between 1868-74 in London
Address 49 King Henry's Walk Islington London | View on map
1871 (Circa)
Address 241 Stanhope Street London | View on map
1872 - 1874
Between 1868-72 at 171 Stanhope Street [see Graves (1906)]
Address 11 Brunswick Walk Cambridge | View on map
1881 (Circa)
Address 7 North Terrace Cambridge | View on map
1891 (Circa)
Address 135 Warwick Road Kensington London | View on map
1901
He was visiting his son's family at this address.
Address 11 St. Andrew's Street Cambridge | View on map
1911 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1866 - 1885
Exhibited 12 times, 18 works in all, (mainly portrait busts and medallions but also some ideal works, the majority in marble). One work listed by Graves incorrectly under Wills: Mrs John E. Sandys (medallion, exhibited in 1885, cat. no. 2080)
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Thirty-Ninth, 1884
1884
Institutional and Business Connections
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
1867 - 1871 (Presumed)
Awarded a gold medal, Reynolds' Discourses, and a scholarship of £25, for the best historical group in sculpture in 1867. See Royal Academy 'Annual Report', (1868), p. 23. Wiles was also awarded a two year travelling studentship in sculpture in 1869, the first year of which was spent in England. See 'Annual Report', (1871), p. 17.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Kelly's Directory of the Building Trades Comprising Every Trade and Profession in any way connected with Architecture and Building throughout England, Scotland and Wales, 1886 Kelly's Trades Directories
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
'Apprentice' probably to his father, John Wiles (born c.1813-16 in Jamaica) 'Stone & Marble Mason employing 2 Men 1 Boy'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
'Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
'Sculptor and Teacher of Drawing'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Sculptor. Local Baptist Minister' worker
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Sculptor' (he was visiting his son's family in Kensington).
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Retired Fine Art Sculptor'
Sources
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
2010
HO107 piece 85 folio 6 page 6
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2005
HO107 piece 1760 folio 248 page 10
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2005
Class: RG 9; Piece: 1023; Folio: 8; Page: 9; GSU roll: 542739
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
2004
RG10 piece 307 folio 74 page 37
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
2004
RG11 piece 1664 folio 7 page 7
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 1283 folio 5 page 3
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
RG13 piece 38 folio 109 page 48
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN9134 RG78PN484 RD181 SD2 ED8 SN109
England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2007
2007
Name: Henry Wiles
Birth Date: abt 1839
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1930
Age at Death: 91
Registration district: Cambridge
Inferred County: Cambridgeshire
Volume: 3b
Page: 430
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
Name: Henry Wiles
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1838
Registration district: Cambridge
Inferred County: Cambridgeshire
Volume: 14
Page: 8
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Henry Wiles
Probate Date: 19 Sep 1930
Death Date: 11 Aug 1930
Death Place: Cambridgeshire, England
Registry: Peterborough
The Royal Academy of Arts: a complete dictionary of contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904. Vol. 8: Toft to Zwecker
1906
pp. 266 & 302 (latter entry incorrectly under Wills)
Citing this record
'Henry Wiles', 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/person.php?id=msib1_1218215903, accessed 04 Jun 2023]
