Sir Charles Bennet Lawes-Wittewronge
Other names: Charles Bennet Lawes (known as "Lawes" until 1902 when added "Wittewronge" after his kinsman, Thomas Wittewronge (d. 1763), from whom his family had derived the estate of Rothamsted)
Born 3 October 1843
Died 6 October 1911
Active: 1872 - 1911
Country of birth and death: Great Britain
Sculptor, sportsman
Born in Teignmouth, Devon. He was a sportsman (athletics and rowing) as well as an artist. Lawes-Wittewronge studied first with John Henry Foley and then with Hugo Hagen in Berlin (1869). One of his major works was a colossal marble group 'The Death of Dirce' which was exhibited at the Royal Academy (1906 and 1908) and the Franco-British Exhibition (1908). Between 1881 and 1884 Lawes was involved in a lengthy dispute and libel action Belt v. Lawes, which ended in Lawes declaring himself bankrupt. Further details are given in the entry for Richard Belt and in the article by John Sankey (details below). He died at the family home, Rothamsted, Herts. The funeral took place on 10 October 1911; Royal Society of British Sculptors sent wreath [9 October 1911, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
John Sankey, 'The sculptor's ghost – the case of Belt v. Lawes', 'Sculpture Journal', vol 16, no 2, 2007 pp. 84-9.
Wealth at death: £134,981 14s. 10d.
Probate date: 17 January 1912
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.
Figure
1876 (Presumed)
Hesitation
1883 (Presumed)
Locations
Studio located at The Avenue, 76 Fulham Road London | View on map
1872 (Circa) - 1879 (Circa)
Studio located at The Studio, Chelsea Bridge Road London | View on map
1880 (Circa) - 1890 (Circa)
Studio located at The Studio, Chelsea Gardens London | View on map
1900 (Circa) - 1910 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1872 - 1908
Exhibited 10 times, 12 works in all
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Thirty-First, 1876
1876
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the tenth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1880
1880
Summer Time (cat. no. 1080, £600 - presumably by this artist, listed in the catalogue as C. B. Lawes).
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the twelfth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1882
1882
Un Fantasia (cat. no. 1572, terracotta, £6 6s.).
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Thirty-Eighth, 1883
1883
Exhibition committee member for Franco-British Exhibition of Science, Art and Industries (London), 1908
4 November 1907 (Circa)
mentioned, 4 November 1907, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no. 1.
Exhibition committee member for International Exhibition in Rome, 1911
7 June 1909 (Circa) - 1911 (Presumed)
Accepted offer to join the committee representing Great Britian (7 June 1909, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no. 1). Gave society details of spaces for sculpture (3 January 1910, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no. 1).
Selection committee member of Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, 1909
4 August 1909
Part of Royal Society of British Sculptors' Selection committee.
Selection committee member of The Coronation Exhibition (Royal Society of British Sculptors), 1911
21 November 1910
Accepted invitation to be part of the Fine Art Committee (21 November 1910, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no. 1).
Institutional and Business Connections
Associated with Royal Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition
1911 (Presumed)
Part of Royal Society of British Sculptors sub-committee to advise on the Travelling Scholarship of Rome [18 Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Donor to Royal Society of British Sculptors
10 January 1905
Agreed to cover all expenses incurred in the production of a society seal [Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I].
Honorary treasurer of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1904 - 1911
Voted in pro-tern at meeeting on 10 January 1910 [Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I].
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1904 - 1911
Member of council The British School at Rome
18 May 1911
Elected member of the council for forwarding the re-constitution of the School on behalf of the Royal Society of British Sculptors [18 May 1911, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
President of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1909 - 1911
Died in 1911.
Proposed motion to Royal Society of British Sculptors
2 March 1905 - 3 April 1905
Lawes-Wittewronge 'gave notice to move at the next council meeting: That it be recommended to the General Meeting that ladies be eligible for membership. Mr Frampton would second the notion' [2 March 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.1]. The motion was lost at the meeting on the following meeting [3 April 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.1]
Personal and Professional Connections
Employed Richard Claude Belt
1871 - 1875
Belt worked for Lawes and the two sculptors also entered a partnership which had ended by 1875. In 1881 an anonymous article published in 'Vanity Fair' made claims against Belt to the effect that he had not been responsible for many of the works attributed to him. Belt initiated a libel action against Charles Lawes who wrote an open letter to the Lord Mayor of London concerning these allegations. The details of the trial are given in the entry for Richard Belt and are recounted in detail in John Sankey, 'The sculptor's ghost – the case of Belt v. Lawes', 'Sculpture Journal', vol 16, no 2, 2007 pp. 84-9.
Nominated by William Robert Colton
18 May 1911
To represent the Royal Scoiety of British Sculptors on the council for the re-constitution of the British School at Rome [18 May 1911, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Nominator of Herbert Hampton
6 July 1908
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors [6 July 1908, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Nominator of Thomas Brock
18 May 1911
To represent the Royal Scoiety of British Sculptors on the council for the re-constitution of the British School at Rome. Nomination carried unanimously [18 May 1911, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Seconded by Francis Derwent Wood
18 May 1911
To represent the Royal Scoiety of British Sculptors on the council for the re-constitution of the British School at Rome [18 May 1911, Royal Society of British Sculptors: Minutes of Council Meetings, no.1].
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
Sources
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
LAW/1904-11/3.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1880 Walker Art Gallery
1880
pp. 67-69.
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1882 Walker Art Gallery
1882
pp. 90-91.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
B. S. Long, ‘Wittewronge, Sir Charles Bennet Lawes-, second baronet (1843–1911)’, rev. Martin Barnes, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34430, accessed 22 July 2009]
Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
10 January 1905; 2 March 1905; 3 April 1905; 4 November 1907; 6 July 1908; 7 December 1908; 7 June 1909; 4 August 1909; 3 January 1910; 21 November 1910; 18 May 1911; 18 September 1911; 9 October 1911.
Citing this record
'Sir Charles Bennet Lawes-Wittewronge', 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_1219748255, accessed 08 Jun 2023]
