Benjamin Cheverton
Other names: Chiverton
Born 27 September 1794
Died 1 February 1876
Active: 1839 - 1876
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, inventor, modeller
Born at Quidhampton, Wiltshire. Benjamin was an artist who designed a reducing machine with the assistance of the engineer John Isaac Hawkins that made it possible to create small scale replicas of sculptures. The machine was first made around 1828 and patented on 16 January 1844 (an example is in the Science Museum, London). Cheverton demonstrated his reducing machine at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and won a gold medal for his copy of Theseus from the Elgin collection in the British Museum.
The reducing machine provided the technical means of allowing sculptures to be replicated in parian ware by Minton's and other pottery manufacturers or in materials such as alabaster and ivory. The demand for these reductions meant that Cheverton was very busy in the decades following the Great Exhibition. He seems not to have licensed out the use of his reducing machine but rather kept it as a family business. Certainly around 1861 his son, James (born c.1832 in London, Middlesex) was also working in the business as a 'Machine Sculptor' and Benjamin had an apprentice or junior assistant named Frank White (born c.1847 Chesterfield, Derbyshire). Cheverton's prosperity at this stage is shown by a move to Chiswick and employing a servant and housekeeper.
According to Roscoe (2009 p. 271) Cheverton reproduced miniature replicas in ivory of works by Sir Francis Chantrey, Joseph Nollekens, L F Roubilliac and Joseph Durham. He advertised this aspect of the business in the London trade directories of the 1860s-70s describing himself as an ivory cutter, ivory worker and artist in ivory and alabaster. By 1871 Cheverton was living more modestly back in the St Pancras and Islington area, possibly his business was less profitable or his health was declining. He died leaving assets of less than £200.
Wealth at death: £200 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 17 February 1876
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
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King Louis Philippe
1862 (Presumed)
Oliver Cromwell
1862 (Presumed)
Locations
Address Pratt Street St Pancras London | View on map
1841 (Circa)
His neighbor was George Bernasconi, architectural modeller and probable heir to Francis Bernasconi's business
Address 38 Camden Street Camden Town London | View on map
1851
Address 9 Heathfield Terace Chiswick London | View on map
1861 (Circa)
Address 12 Cornwallis Road Islington London | View on map
1871 (Circa)
Address 41 Shadwell Road Islington London | View on map
1876
Address at death
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
Multiple works
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Awarded a gold medal for his copy of Theseus from the Elgin collection in the British Museum
Institutional and Business Connections
Employed at Copeland (William Taylor Copeland)
Created reproductions of larger sculptures for manufacture in parian ware using his patented reducing machine: see Copeland (2007) p. 86 and Atterbury (1989)
Traded as Benjamin Cheverton
1841 - 1876
Worked as a 'Machine Sculptor' and artist in ivory and alabaster
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
'Machine Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
'Artist' living next door to George Bernasconi (born c.1801) 'Architectural Modeller'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
'Machine Sculptor in Miniature' also his son, James Cheverton (born c.1832 in London, Middlesex) 'Machine Sculptor' and Frank White (born c.1847 Chesterfield, Derbyshire) 'Assistant Sculptor' (presumably an apprentice since aged 14)
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
'Artist in Ivory and Alabaster'
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
p. 271
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
2010
HO107 piece 681 folio 1/47 page 25
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2005
HO107 piece 1497 folio 197 page 46
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2005
RG09 piece 780 folio 30 page 11
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
2004
RG10 piece 301 folio 41 page 8
England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906
2008
Name: Benjamin Cheverton
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 27 Sep 1794
Christening Date: 14 Dec 1794
Christening Place: Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Age at Christening: 0
Father's Name: Benjamin Cheverton
Mother's Name: Ann
England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915
2006
Name: Benjamin Cheverton
Estimated birth year: abt 1795
Year of Registration: 1876
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Age at Death: 81
District: Islington
County: Greater London, London, Middlesex
Volume: 1b
Page: 239
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Benjamin Cheverton
Probate Date: 17 Feb 1876
Death Date: 1 Feb 1876
Death Place: Middlesex, England
Registry: Principal Registry
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
Parian Copeland's Statuary Porcelain
2007
p. 86.
The Parian Phenomenon: A Survey of Victorian Parian Porcelain Statuary and Busts
1989
several references, see especially pp. 8 and 19
Citing this record
'Benjamin Cheverton', 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=msib4_1233326872, accessed 03 Oct 2023]
