Benjamin Clemens

Born 5 October 1875
Died 27 December 1957

Active: 1899 - 1942

Country of birth and death: England

Sculptor, teacher

Born in Dalston, London, date of birth noted on his record of baptism in February 1876. His father, Richard Clemens (born c.1836 in Cornwall) worked as a travelling salesman and then a warehouseman in the gloving trade. Benjamin worked as a haberdasher's assistant aged 15 but by c.1900 was studying art. He attended the North London School of Drawing and then the Royal College of Art. According to his obituary in The Times, after completing his studies Clemens worked as an assistant to Professor Edouard Lanteri.

During the First World War Clemens served with the British Expeditionary Force and then the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), British Red Cross Society. In 1920 he participated in an exhibition of work produced by members of the RAMC at the Imperial War Museum and organised by Lieutenant-Colonel F.S. Brereton. Clemens was commissioned to make a group called the 'St John's Ambulance Bearers' for this display.

Among his other commissions were the four figures for the Canterbury War Memorial and the figure group on Africa House, Kingsway, London. Clemens sacrificed his career to his teaching duties and consequently did not receive the recognition he deserved. He is described as 'fiery and forthright' in his criticisms of students' work but also 'warmhearted and kindly' so all Clemens' students 'loved him'. (Obituary by 'G.L.' in The Times, 1958)

Wealth at death: £1,216 13s. 2d.
Probate date: 13 August 1958

Citing this record

'Benjamin Clemens', 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_1203710028, accessed 24 May 2022]