Newbury Abbot Trent
Born 14 October 1885
Died 2 August 1953
Active: 1904 - 1943
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, medallist, teacher
Born in Forest Gate, Essex. Son of Walter F. Trent (born c.1851 in Bishopsgate), a builder and ship fitter and one of eleven children. According to descendents of the Trent family, when Newbury was about eleven years old he was discovered drawing in the South Kensington Museum (V&A) by the painter, Thomas Armstrong RA (1832-1911), Director for Art in the Department of Science and Art (later the Royal College of Art). Armstrong recognised Trent's talent and persuaded his parents to allow him to adopt Newbury and bring him up as an artist. Apparently Armstrong's son had recently died at about the same age.
Newbury studied at the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. He married (Phyllis) Hilda Ledward who was the daughter of the sculptor, Richard Ledward (1857-90) and sister to Gilbert Ledward (1888-1960). Trent became an ARA and worked throughout his life from a studio at 1 Beaufort Street, London. His commissions included: a statue to Edward VII, Brighton; the recumbent effigy of Dean Pigou in Bristol cathedral; and war memorials in New Barnet, Beckenham, Wanstead, Ilford, Tredegar and Wallsend.
Wealth at death: £6,173 11s. 11d.
Probate date: 7 December 1953
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.
Margaret
1917 (Presumed)
£47 5s.
A Paperweight
1917 (Presumed)
£5 5s.
Mdlle Pavlova in the Swan Dance
1917 (Presumed)
£18 18s.
Gerald du Maurier Esq.
1917 (Presumed)
£26 5s.
Peggy
1917 (Presumed)
£12 12s.
The Late Lieut-Col Guy du Maurier, DSO
1917 (Presumed)
A Sower
1918 (Presumed)
£18 18s.
The Late Flight Sub-Lieut Leslie E. Adlam, RN
1918 (Presumed)
Hugh Craig
1918 (Presumed)
Morning
1918 (Presumed)
£47 5s.
One of the Nausicäas Maidens
1918 (Presumed)
£5 5s.
Joan, daughter of Miss Gladys Cooper (Mrs. Buckmaster)
1918 (Presumed)
£10 10s.
Meditation
1919 (Presumed)
£10 10s.
Thirteen
1920 (Presumed)
£26 5s.
Boy with Fruit
1920 (Presumed)
£2 12s.
Night
1920 (Presumed)
£2 5s.
Jennifer
1922 (Presumed)
£52 10s.
Peter Pan
1923 (Presumed)
£36 15s.
The Young Bather
1923
£3 13s. 6d.
Jackie
1924 (Presumed)
£18 18s.
Dans le Rêve
1924 (Presumed)
£157 10s.
The Temptation
1926 (Presumed)
£75
Thalia
1927 (Presumed)
£157 10s.
The Cloud
1929 (Presumed)
£26 5s.
David, Son of Michael Waterhouse, Esq.
1929 (Presumed)
Stanley Baldwin, Esq., MP
1929 (Presumed)
£262 10s.
Mermaid
1943 (Circa)
Locations
Address 14 Gunter Grove Chelsea London SW10 | View on map
1911 (Circa)
Sharing lodgings with Percy Jowett
Address 1 Beaufort Street Chelsea London | View on map
1916 (Circa) - 1953
Address The Abbots House High Street Abbots Langley | View on map
1943 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Eleventh Exhibition, 1916
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Eighty-Second Annual Exhibition, 1943
'Colt'
Exhibited at The Seventy-Second Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1917
1917
Exhibited at The Seventy-Third Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1918
1918
Exhibited at The Seventy-Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1919
1919
Exhibited at The Seventy-Fifth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1920
1920
Exhibited at The Seventy-Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1922
1922
Exhibited at The Seventy-Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1923-4
2 October 1923 - 2 February 1923
Exhibited at The Seventy-Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1924
1924
Exhibited at The Eighty-First Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1926-1927
1 November 1926 - 5 February 1927
Exhibited at The Eighty-Second Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1927-1928
31 October 1927 - 4 February 1928
Exhibited at The Eighty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1929-1930
4 November 1929 - 8 February 1930
Won prize Landseer Scholarships (Royal Academy of Arts), 1884-1950
1909
Institutional and Business Connections
Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1923 - 1925
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1914 - 1925
First nominated for Membership in 1913 by W. G. John and D. McGill.
Studied at Royal College of Art (including National Art Training School)
1904 (Presumed) - 1909
Listed as a student at the College for five years. Graduated from College as a sculpture (and possibly architecture)student in the 1908-1909 session. Trent's profession is listed as 'Teacher of Design, West Ham Sch of Art; Scholarship 'modelling' Royal Academy': see 'Register of R. C. A. Students' (1907-1924), p. 18. Note that only the second initial A. and surname are clearly legible in this hand written entry; however, the first initial is probably an 'N'.
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
1909 (Presumed) - 1910 (Presumed)
Awarded a second prize of £10 for a model of a design, in 1909. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1909', (1910), p. 34. The following year, Trent was awarded a one year Landseer Scholarship for sculpture. See 'Annual Report, 1909', (1910), p. 34. In 1910, Trent was awarded a £5 prize and silver medal for a model of a medal or coin, and a £20 first prize and silver medal for a set of four models of a figure from the life. See 'Annual Report, 1910', (1911), p. 36.
Teacher at Camberwell School of Art
September 1912
Listed as a teacher of evening classes in modelling design.
Personal and Professional Connections
Friends with Percy H. Jowett
They studied together and were sharing lodgings c.1911. Later they both married sisters of the sculptor, Gilbert Ledward
Related to Gilbert Ledward
Trent was married to (Phyllis) Hilda Ledward (1886-1955) sister of Gilbert Ledward
Studied with Gilbert Ledward
1911 (Circa)
at the Royal Academy Schools
Descriptions of Practice
Listed as medallist Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin, Gem, and Seal-Engravers, Mint Masters, &c., Ancient and Modern with References to their Works, B.C. 500 - A.D. 1900, Volume VI, 1916 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Listed as a contemporary sculptor and medallist living in Chelsea, London. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, 'on several occasions' including in 1911. See Forrer, vol. 6, (1916), p. 132.
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Artist (Sculptor)' and also Percy Jowett (born c.1883) 'Artist (painter)' both working on own account at home
Sources
Annual Exhibition (Jubilee) Catalogue for The Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1911
1911
p. 36.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Eleventh Exhibition.
1916
p.172.
Catalogue for the Eighty-First Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1926
1926
Catalogue for the Eighty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1929
1929
Catalogue for the Eighty-Second Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1927
1927
Catalogue for the Seventy-Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1923
1923
Catalogue for the Seventy-Fifth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1920
1920
Catalogue for the Seventy-Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1919
1919
Catalogue for the Seventy-Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1924
1924
Catalogue for the Seventy-Second Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1917
1917
Catalogue for the Seventy-Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1922
1922
Catalogue for the Seventy-Third Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1918
1918
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 1337 folio 14 page 21
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2009
RG14PN372 RG78PN12 RD4 SD1 ED1 SN69
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Newbury Abbot Trent
Probate Date: 7 Dec 1953
Death Date: 2 Aug 1953
Death Place: London, England
Registry: London, England
Register of Royal College of Art Students, 1907-1924 Royal College of Art
1907
p. 18.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 2, 1913-1922
1922 (Presumed)
15 December 1913
The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Catalogue, 1943
1943
p. 20
The Sculpture of Gilbert Ledward
2003
pp. 35-6 fn.9
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
2008
The Times, Wednesday, Aug 05, 1953; pg. 8; Issue 52692; col D
Mr. N. A. Trent
Category: Obituaries
Who was Who
December 2007
'TRENT, Newbury Abbot’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U243842, accessed 22 Dec 2009]
Citing this record
'Newbury Abbot Trent', 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_1219181050, accessed 24 Mar 2023]
