Matthew Noble
Born 1817 (Circa)
Died 23 June 1876
Active: 1841 - 1875
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor
Baptized on 23 March 1817 at Hackness, North Riding of Yorkshire. He was the son of Robert Noble (born c.1790), a stonemason, and was initially apprenticed to his father.
He was exceptionally prolific, creating both portrait busts, statues and monuments. One of his sons, Herbert, showed great promise as a sculptor, but died in January 1876 at the age of nineteen in a railway accident at Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire. The loss of Herbert and another son is said to have contributed to his early death from pleuropneumonia at his home, 43 Abingdon Villas, Kensington.
Wealth at death: £2,000 0s. 0d.
Effects under £2,000
Probate date: 17 July 1876
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.
Seated Figure of the Rev. William Harcourt
Bust of Horatia Viscount Nelson
Bust of the Late Duke of Wellington
Bust of the Late W. Etty, Esq., RA
Bust of the Late R. Peel, Bart.
Recumbent Statue of the Earl of Ellesmere, Worsley
1860 (Circa)
Statuette of the Late Robert Peel, to be executed in marble, for St George's Hall, Liverpool
Bust, in marble, of His Grace the Duke of Wellington
Locations
Address Hackness | View on map
1841 (Circa)
Address 56 Albany Street Regent's Park London | View on map
1845 - 1851
Address 13 Bruton Street Berkeley Square London | View on map
1852 (Circa) - 1876 (Circa)
Address 10 Percy Street Bedford Square London | View on map
1852
Address 43 Abingdon Villas Kensington London | View on map
1861 - 1876
Died at this address.
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
Multiple works
Exhibited at National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds, 1868
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds Mechanics' Institution, Yorkshire Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Leeds, 1875
Multiple works
Exhibited at Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts (Leeds), 1853
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
p.54
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1845 - 1876
Exhibited 32 times (27 times from 1851 onwards), frequently exhibited 4 or 5 works per year, chiefly portrait busts.
Exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, 1826-
1868
Exhibited at the annual exhibition 1 time: 1868 (1 work).
Institutional and Business Connections
Member of Leeds Academy of Arts
Noble was an honorary member
Member of Institute of British Sculptors
1856 (Circa) - 1860 (Circa)
Personal and Professional Connections
Employed as studio assistant Joseph Edwards
1860 - 1876
After Noble's death in 1876, Edwards completed his outstanding commissions and disposed of the plaster models in the studio
Pupil of John Francis
1845 (Circa)
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
p. 1803
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
Both father, Robert Noble (born c.1790) and Matthew listed as 'Stone Mason'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
'Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
'Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
'Sculptor', also John Francis, head of household, 'Sculptor' and the latter's daughter, Georgina Francis, 'Sculptor Ap[prentice]'
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 888-896
Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts, 8 Bond Street, Leeds, 1853
1853 (Presumed)
Cat. Nos. 533, 536, 538, 539, pp. 4, 23, 29
Catalogue of the National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds 1868
1868
Cat. Nos. 627a, 627b, 627c, 627d, p. 204
Catalogue of the Yorkshire Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Leeds, 1875
1875
Cat. Nos. F5, F7, f8, F12, F19, pp. 97, 98
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
2004
Class: HO107; Piece: 1265; Book: 3; Civil Parish: Hackness; County: Yorkshire; Enumeration District: 12a; Folio: 4; Page: 3; Line: 6; GSU roll: 464236
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2004
HO107 piece 1493 folio 391 page 17
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2004
Class: RG 9; Piece: 16; Folio: 58; Page: 16; GSU roll: 542557
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
2004
Class: RG10; Piece: 31; Folio: 24; Page: 42; GSU roll: 838758
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Matthew Noble
Probate Date: 17 Jul 1876
Death Date: 23 Jun 1876
Death Place: Middlesex, England
Registry: Principal Registry
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
List of Members: Institute of British Sculptors (or Sculptor's Institute)
2008 (Circa)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Martin Greenwood, ‘Noble, Matthew (bap. 1817, d. 1876)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20222, accessed 14 Jan 2010]
Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1860
p. 1803
Rules of the Institute of Sculptors
1861
p. iv (confirms he was not a member on 1861)
The Builder, Vol. 17, 26 February 1859
26 February 1859
p. 151
The Builder, Vol. 17, 3 December 1859
3 December 1859
p. 797
The Builder, Vol. 18, 14 July 1860
14 July 1860
p. 451
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
1852
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
1855
p.54
Citing this record
'Matthew Noble', 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=msib5_1206459594, accessed 31 Mar 2023]
