Mr Onslow Ernest Whiting
Born 4 June 1872
Died 4 August 1937
Active: 1891 - 1937
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, silversmith, goldsmith, jeweller, teacher
Born in Shoreditch, London. His father was a house decorator and his mother, who became head of the family when Onslow was quite young, worked as a dressmaker. All his siblings were put to work in the tailoring trade. However by 1905 he was successful enough to build a house in Letchworth which was designed by the Scottish architect, Albert Randall Wells (1877-1942). Whiting added a studio in 1910 to a design by the Leicester-based architect, Cecil Horace Hignett (1879-1960).
Between about 1901-27 Whiting worked as a teacher of silversmithing and goldsmithing, metal casting, modelling, etc. at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London. Known works by him include Letchworth's memorial to the fallen of the First World War, which is located in Station Place (unveiled 11 December 1921). In 1928-9 Whiting visited north Africa (Tangiers) and c.1937 travelled to South America. He lived in Cornwall for the last decade of his life but died at St Catherine's Nursing Home, Letchworth and was buried locally in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin.
Details of the war memorial are given at: http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/conMemorial.1168/fromUkniwmSearch/1 (accessed 11 December 2012). This record includes information submitted by Philippa Parker.
Wealth at death: £3,981 17s. 6d.
Probate date: 16 November 1937
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.
Locations
Address 53 Mansfield Street Shoreditch London | View on map
1891
Living with family
Address 333 Amhurst Road Stoke Newington London N | View on map
1897 (Circa)
Previous addresses include: 22 Greenwood Road, Hackney [see Graves (1906)]
Address 31 Cantlowes Road Camden Square London | View on map
1897 (Circa) - 1902 (Circa)
Address 1 Norton Road Letchworth | View on map
1905 (Circa) - 1911 (Circa)
Whiting built this house about 1905 and added a studio in 1910. There are two stained glass windows and an incomplete relief of St George and the dragon. In 1911 he was living here with his mother and sisters.
Address Southernwood Norton Letchworth | View on map
1910 (Presumed)
Address Old Manor House Norton Letchworth | View on map
1922 (Circa)
Address Greywethers Wilbury Road Letchworth | View on map
1924 (Presumed) - 1928
Address Gillan Cove Manaccan Helston | View on map
1928 - 1937 (Presumed)
Studio located at Studios, 4 North Villas Camden Square London NW | View on map
1903 (Circa) - 1905
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Sixth Exhibition, 1899
Multiple works
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Ninth Exhibition, 1910
'Mercury'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1897
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1902
'Field Guns Going Into Action'
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Twenty-Third Autumn Exhibition, 1905
'Going Into Action'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1895 - 1933
Exhibited 12 times, one or two works per year (showed art metalwork from 1897 mixed with sculptures and (post-war) portrait heads).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fifth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1895
1895
St George Slays the Dragon (cat. no. 1310, relief, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirty-first (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1901
1901
Field Guns going into action, Colenso (cat. no. 1626, plaster relief, £8 8s., in copper, £12 12s.).
Institutional and Business Connections
Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1923 - 1931
Associate of The Guild of Art Craftsmen
Invited to join Royal Society of British Sculptors
2 March 1905 - 3 April 1905
Amongst the suggested second wave of those invited to join 'without further nomination' [2 March 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]: but name removed from list following further discussion at next meeting [3 April 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1920 - 1931
Amongst the second wave of those invited to join 'without further nomination' [2 March 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]. Did not join until 1920
Member of Art Workers Guild
1 February 1924 - 1937
Teacher at Central School of Arts and Crafts
September 1901 - June 1927
Listed as a teacher of 'Silversmiths' and Goldsmiths' work (large and small), Jeweller's work, Chasing, Engraving, Carving, Special Modelling Class for Goldsmiths and Silversmiths, Moulding and Casting in Metal, Preparation of Working Drawings for Silversmiths and Metal Workers'from 1901 onwards.
From 1906 Whiting also taught in the 'Technical Day School for Boys. Preparatory to the Silversmiths' and Allied Trades'.
From 1908 he is listed as joint supervisor of the department of 'Silversmiths' Work and Allied Crafts' and as teacher of design, modelling and metal casting in this department, and as teacher in the day technical school.
Whiting is not listed as a teacher at the school between September 1916 and June 1920. He is listed again from September 1920 as a teacher of design for silversmiths' jewellery and of silversmiths' modelling.
Last listed in the 1926-1927 prospectus.
Personal and Professional Connections
Nominated by Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware
1920 (Presumed)
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Nominated by Sidney Nicholson Boyes
1920 (Presumed)
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Artists Modellers Apprentice' employed by 'Sculp'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Art Master. London County Council Central School of Arts. Silversmiths Dept.'
Sources
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1913-1933
1924, p.11 and all lists of members' addresses 1924-1933.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Ninth Exhibition.
1910
p.143.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Sixth Exhibition.
1899
p.37, p.69, p.80.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fifth, 1895 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1895
pp. 47-50.
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1897
1897
Cat. Nos. 845, 846, pp. 79, 112
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1902
1902
Cat. No. 389, pp. 38, 73
Catalogue of the Twenty-Third Autumn Exhibition, 1905
1905
Cat. No. 281, pp. 46, 62
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 253 folio 37 page 14
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN7575 RG78PN371 RD136 SD1 ED6 SN174
Central School of Arts and Crafts, Prospectus and Time-Table. Sixth Session Commencing 23 September 1901
23 September 1901
p. 2.
England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2007
2007
Name: Onslow W Whiting; Year: 1937; Age at death (estimated): 65; Registration district: Hitchin, Hertfordshire; Volume: 3a; Page: 839
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
1872; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; District: Shoreditch, London, Middlesex; Vol:1c; Page: 143
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Onslow Ernest Whiting
Probate Date: 16 Nov 1937
Death Date: 4 Aug 1937
Death Place: Cornwall, England
Registry: London, England
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts. Prospectus & Time-Table for the Session Commencing 21 September 1908
21 September 1908
p. 2.
London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts. Prospectus and Time-Table of Session beginning 27 September 1920
27 September 1920
Unpaged timetable.
London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts. Prospectus and Time-Table of the Session 1926-1927
27 September 1926
Unpaged timetable.
London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts. Technical Day School for Boys. Preparatory to Silversmiths Work and Allied Trades, August 1906
August 1906
p. 1.
London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906
2010
Hackney; St Mary, Haggerston; 1879; Image 1 [his parents baptised three of their children aged 7-11 in December 1879]
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
2 March 1905; 3 April 1905.
The fifty-fourth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1938
1938
p.18.
The fifty-third annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1937
1937
p.46.
UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960
2008
Class: BT26; Piece: 910; Item: 4 and Class: BT26; Piece: 1133; Item: 2
Citing this record
'Mr Onslow Ernest Whiting', 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_1208277173, accessed 30 May 2023]
