Joseph Crosland McClure

Born 1872 (Circa)
Died 1940

Active: 1891 - 1914

Country of birth and death: England

Sculptor, medallist, art teacher

Born in Higher Broughton, Manchester, Lancashire possibly in 1871 (based on his age at death). McClure worked as an art teacher in Manchester around 1891 and then as a sculptor. He married Ethel Eveline Emma Meen (born c.1876 in London) in 1899 who was an 'Artist embroidery' c.1911.

In the early 1900s McClure taught modelling at Liverpool School of Art and then at Leicester School of Art (c.1905-10). His major commission was the Leicestershire South African War Memorial, comprising three bronze statues, a central figure of 'Peace' flanked by 'War' and 'Grief', designed with the architect John Breedon Everard (of Everard and Pick), unveiled on 1 July 1909. The memorial committee had originally wished to work with Alfred Gilbert but after five years (1903-8) in which he failed to produce more than a rough model they were forced to find an alternative. Everard was on the memorial committee and in March 1908 suggested McClure should submit a proposal. The initial model submitted by McClure was for a central figure flanked by lions but this was changed at the artist's suggestion and at no extra cost for the final composition in August 1908.

McClure also created stone figures of 'Truth' and 'Wisdom' for H.H. Thomson’s St Alban’s church, Leicester (c.1905-6); architectural carvings in granite for the Stamford, Spalding and Boston Banking Co. building at 10-12 Gallowtree Gate, Leicester designed by Stockdale Harrison (c.1907); two sculptural groups ('The Music of the Woods and the Sea' and 'Municipal Beneficence and the Soul of Music') for Usher Hall, Edinburgh, also by Stockdale Harrison (1910-14); and a Statue of King Edward VII in coronation robes (for which the king granted McClure a sitting) for Madras. There are examples of his work in Leicester Museum and Art Gallery ('Portrait Bust of Mrs Mary Stanion') and the Walker Art Gallery ('Sunrise', 'Morning' and 'Evening').

A plaque of 'Andromeda' by McClure was gifted to the short-lived Calgary Public Museum (1928-35) in Canada c.1930. (The current location of the plaque is unknown.) According to a letter dated May 1930 the gift was from the son of a "great friend of the same Jack Crosland McLure" who taught at Leicester School of Art, so possibly one of his students or fellow teachers. An undated clipping in the archives at Calgary City Hall, possibly from the 'Sunday Pictorial', has the headline "Artist to Whom the King Gave Sittings Now Serves Drinks" It goes on: "Few of the thirsty [unknown] who call at the Robin Hood, the plea [unknown] hostelry on Kingston Hill, are aware that the barman in the garden there is a sculptor of distinction, to whom the King has posed for his portrait in bronze. "In these post war days, people have no money for statues." Mr. Crosland McLure, the sculptor-barman told the 'Sunday Pictorial' yesterday, "but they still have thirsts to be quenched. So like many others, I have had to adapt myself to the changed times. "My last big work, a statue of the King in bronze, went to the city of Madras. For this I visited Buckingham Palace, where the King granted me sittings. Another public monument which I designed is the South African war memorial in the market square of Leicester." McClure died in north London.

This record contains information supplied to the project by Daniel Lindley from documents in the Board of Commissioners fonds, Series VIII, box 1, file 9 located in the City of Calgary Corporate Records, Archives. There is a very detailed account of the commission for the South African War Memorial, including Alfred Gilbert's involvement, in the 'Public Sculpture of Leicestershire and Rutland Public Sculpture of Britain', 2000, pp.157-66.

Citing this record

'Joseph Crosland McClure', 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_1238771806, accessed 24 Sep 2023]

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