William Wheatley Wagstaff

Born 16 November 1880
Died 13 December 1962

Active: 1901 - 1946

Country of birth: England

Country of death: Scotland

Sculptor, architectural sculptor, stone carver, draughtsman in an aircraft factory, sculpture business and foundry owner

Born in Keighley. He was the son of James Wagstaff (born c.1857 in Caldecot, Bedfordshire), railway porter or shunter. As a boy William attended Eastwood School, and then evening classes at Keighley Institute. He served for some years with Alexander Frank Smith (1862-c.1953 ), sculptor, Keighley. Wagstaff moved to London and studied at the South London Technical School of Art (City and Guilds of London Art School), Kennington and then at the Royal Academy Schools. He won the Royal Academy Silver Medal for a Modelled Design in 1910 for 'Mary Magdalene' (present location unknown) and the same year exhibited 'The Woman' at the Royal Academy. He appears to have worked primarily as an architectural sculptor or stone carver before 1914. This is based on the evidence of his son Donald's birth certificate (1904) which gives William's occupation as ‘Sculptor (Journeyman)’ and the census returns of 1911, in which he described himself as a 'Stone Carver' and worker.

During the First World War, Wagstaff was employed as a draughtsman in an aircraft factory. Afterwards he received a commission to design the Deptford Borough War Memorial (unveiled on July 7, 1921). Wagstaff created two figures of servicemen and collaborated with the builder William Richards on the central octagonal shaft in Portland stone. In 1920 Wagstaff joined the firm of 'Arts and Crafts' in Shanghai, China in answer to an advertisement for a sculptor. A few years later he opened his own sculpture, ornamental plaster and metal work studio and workshop with a Chinese workforce in the Great Western Road, Shanghai. With the help of his two sons, Donald (1904-41) and Alec (1908-43), W.W. Wagstaff & Sons were well known in the Far East before the Second World War with branches in Singapore (run by Alec) and Hong Kong (run by Donald).

Wagstaff carried out commissions for a firm of architects, Palmer and Turner, who were involved in public buildings, banks etc. in Shanghai. One of his commissions was a group of figures on top of the Post Office building. Among his other principal works are casting the full-size bronze lions outside the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong (c.1933-35) and are now said to be in the Shanghai Museum. (These were originally modelled by Henry Poole for the headquarters of the bank in Shanghai). Wagstaff created the bronze and ornamental plaster work in the Cathay Hotel grill room and Mitsui Bank in Shanghai. Donald Wagstaff painted the murals in the Peninsular Hotel, Hong Kong. There is an unconfirmed report that Donald was commissioned to paint two pictures of Hong Kong for the offices of P&O, London.

Donald died in 1941 while serving on a motor torpedo boat, which was bombed by the Japanese in Hong Kong harbour. Alec died whilst a prisoner of war on the Burma Railway in 1943. William Wagstaff and his wife, Mina, were interned in China during the war. In 1946 they decided to sell up their business and return to England, they landed in 1947. From 1947-61 the Wagstaffs lived in Kent and then moved to Edinburgh in 1961 to be close to family.

This entry is largely based on information submitted by David Inglis and an extract from the 'Keighley News', Saturday 4 November 1916, p.10, column 2.

Wealth at death: £830 14s. 0d.
Probate date: 26 February 1963

Citing this record

'William Wheatley Wagstaff', 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_1262789222, accessed 30 Mar 2023]