James Havard Thomas RWA
Born 22 December 1854
Died 6 June 1921
Active: 1872 - 1921
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, teacher
Born at 16 St Michael's Hill, Bristol. Died at 24 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London.
Wealth at death: £4,229 5s. 7d.
Probate date: 5 July 1921
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.
Industry
p.39 (1).
Ann, Wife of Montague S. D. Butler
Ann, Wife of Montague S. D. Butler, Esq.
Florence. Wife of S. H. Butler, C.I.E.
Shepherd (Study for 'The loom')
Bronze relief of young French girl
Study for the procession of Scapellate
Study for 'The camomile gatherer'
Portrait of J. L. Wheatly, Esq., JP
Panel in Rugby Chapel: Rupert Brooke
Study of a girl leaning against a rock
Scapellate. Study for procession
Study for 'Girl carrying child'
Study for medallion: J. L. Wheatley, Esq., JP
Group. Two figures. Mountain Ash War Memorial
Study for panel, 'Music and dancing'
H. R. H. the Late Princess Alice and Daughter
Dr Carpenter, CB, LLD
1877 (Presumed)
£10 10s.
Cardinal Manning
1877 (Presumed)
£15 15s.
Herbert Thomas, Esq., JP
1877 (Presumed)
The Late Frederick James
1881 (Presumed)
Ishmael
1881 (Presumed)
£12 12s.
Penelope
1881 (Presumed)
£10 10s.
Marguerite
1881 (Presumed)
£7 7s.
Alna, Daughter of Asher Wertheimer, Esq.
1908 (Presumed)
Childhood
1910 (Presumed)
£157 10s.
Terpsis
1913 (Presumed)
Locations
Address Naples | View on map
Moved there after his studies and married; also made statue of Burke ('now in Bristol') at foundry there.
Address 169 Ebury Street Eaton Square London | View on map
1877 (Circa)
Address 21A Upper Cheyne Row Chelsea London | View on map
1908 (Circa) - 1910 (Circa)
Address Bourton Shrivenham | View on map
1911
Address c/o Carfax aury Streetnd Co. Ltd. 24 Bury Street London | View on map
1912 (Circa) - 1921 (Circa)
Studied at Paris | View on map
Studio located at 15 Trafalgar Studios Manresa Road London SW3 | View on map
1881
Studio located in 2 Trafalgar Studios King's Road London | View on map
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Exhibition of International Art (International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London), 1898
Multiple works
Exhibited at Exhibition of Fair Women (International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London), 1908
Multiple works
Exhibited at Eighth Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (London), 1908
Multiple works
Exhibited at Memorial exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by the Late J. Havard Thomas (Leicester Galleries), 1922
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Special Loan Exhibition, 1911
'Meditation'
Exhibited at Royal Manchester Institution, Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, 1879
'H. R. H. the Late Princess Alice and Daughter'
Exhibited at Royal Manchester Institution, Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, 1877
'His Eminence Cardinal Manning'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1872 - 1914
Exhibited 21 times.
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Thirty-Second, 1877
1877
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Thirty-Sixth, 1881
1881
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the fifteenth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1885
1885
Cecilia (cat. no. 1447, marble, £31 10s.).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the eighteenth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1888
1888
Cardinal Manning (cat. no. 1385, 'executed direct, in Marble from personal sittings given by his Eminence', £105).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-eighth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1898
1898
A Draught Ox (cat. no. 1451, marble low relief, not for sale).
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Annual Spring Exhibition for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, The Sixty-Third, 1908
1908
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Annual Spring Exhibition for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, The Sixty-Fifth, 1910
1910
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1912 - 1939
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 3 times: 1912 (3 works), 1923 (1 work) and 1939 (1 work)
Exhibited at Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru National Museum of Wales Exhibition of Works by Certain Modern Artists of Welsh Birth or Extraction, 1913
5 December 1913 - 28 February 1914
Exhibited at Exhibition of Open Air Sculpture, Battersea Park (London County Council), 1948
1948
Work exhibited posthumously.
Exhibited at Festival of Britain, London: Ten Decades, a Review of British Taste, 1851-1951, 1951
1951
Thomas' 'Mrs Asher Wertheimer' (1907) was exhibited posthumously, lent by the Tate Gallery.
Selection committee member of Cardiff City Hall Statuary Competition, 1912-14
1913 - 1914 (Circa)
Adviser and assessor to the Cardiff Committee organising the competition on behalf of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Institutional and Business Connections
Belonged to Chelsea Arts Club
1898 (Presumed)
Honorary secretary of The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
1888
Also member of sub-committee (of 9 persons) that set up society.
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1905 - 1914
Amongst those 'Invited to join without the formality of proposal and seconding' [January 10 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]. Resigned in 1914.
Member of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers
1908 - 1921
At their fourth meeting, in 1898, the Council of the ISSPG decided to invite Thomas to participate in their exhibition. Associate member 1908, Executive member 1909-1921.
Professional member of The Royal West of England Academy
1910 (Circa) - 1921
Listed as Professional Member 'Sculpture'
Professor at Slade School of Fine Art
1915 - 1921
Resigned from Royal Society of British Sculptors
February 1914
He resigned from the RBS (together with the President, George Frampton, and several members of the Council) after a stormy meeting on 27 February 1914. This followed a vote of censure passed at an Extraordinary Meeting of the RBS (16 January 1914) criticising the RBS Council for their support of Thomas and his actions re a commission for ten marble sculptures to fill empty niches and pedestals in the staircase hall of Cardiff City Hall. The quarrel was resolved after Thomas's death (1926) when it transpired that Frampton had been acting on the direct request of the patron, Lord Rhondda. The vote of censure was then expunged.
Student at The Royal West of England Academy
1876 (Presumed) - 1891
Listed under 'Students' under Professional Members. Presumed to be a student of the Academy.
Studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts
Studied under Cavelier.
Teacher of modeling at Slade School of Fine Art
September 1911 - July 1921
Listed as teacher of sculpture from 1910-1911 to 1914-1915, and as Professor of sculpture from 1915-1916 until 1920-1921.
Unsuccessful in ballot for election to Royal Academy of Arts
Withdrew from nominations book after his continual failure to gain election.
Personal and Professional Connections
Mother/father/parent of George Havard Thomas
Nominated by John Singer Sargent
23 January 1907
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by George Clausen
23 January 1908 - 23 January 1927
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by George James Frampton
23 January 1908
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by William Goscombe John
23 January 1908
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by David Murray
23 January 1908
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by Frederick William Pomeroy
23 January 1908
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by William Hamo Thornycroft
23 January 1908
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominated by (Charles) Adrian (Scott) Stokes
23 January 1923
For RA; unsuccessful.
Nominator of Francis William Sargant
21 November 1910
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors [21 November 1910, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Taught Arnrid Banniza Johnston
[At the Slade School of Art]
Teacher to Ethel Walker
1921
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor (Artist)' working on own account at home and his son, George Havard (1893-1933) 'Student (Sculptor)' worker
Sources
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Papers relating to the founding of the Society
1888 (Circa)
'National Exhibition of the Arts'. Listed as one of 20 sculptors invited to be part of selection and hanging committee.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-eighth, 1898 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1898
pp. 45-48.
Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the eighteenth, 1888 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1888
pp. 54-56.
Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the fifteenth, 1885 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1885
pp. 85-87.
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-Sixth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1921
1921
Catalogue for the Seventy-Third Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1918
1918
Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1877
1877
Cat. Nos. 992, 999, pp. 83, 84, 105
Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1879
1879
Cat. Nos. 1015, 1024, pp. 82, 102
Catalogue of the Special Loan Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1911
1911
Cat. No. 255, p. 27
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2009
RG14PN6426 RG78PN315 RD116 SD1 ED1 SN187
Ernest Brown & Phillips Ltd., The Leicester Galleries. An index of 1422 catalogues of exhibitions of European Modern Art and 20th Century British Art, held between 1902 and 1977
http://www.ernestbrownandphillips.ltd.uk (accessed 17 July 2019)
Goscombe John at the National Museum of Wales
1979
pp. 15-16
International Society press cuttings, from spring 1921
1921 (Circa)
Various obituaries from national and regional press, May-June 1924.
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Minutes of Council Meetings of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Fiona Pearson, ‘Thomas, James Havard (1853–1921)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/64509, accessed 10 July 2009]
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1906-1927
1927
p.14.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
10 January 1905; 17 March 1913.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 2, 1913-1922
1922 (Presumed)
17 November 1913
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 2, 1913-1922
1922 (Presumed)
20 April 1914
University College London. Calendar. Session 1911-1912
1911
p. 78.
University College London. Calendar. Session 1915-1916
1915
p. 90.
Citing this record
'James Havard Thomas RWA', 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=msib2_1203379263, accessed 31 Mar 2023]
