Benjamin Burstall

Born 15 October 1835
Died 14 January 1876

Active: 1857 - 1876

Country of birth and death: England

Sculptor, architectural sculptor, stone carver

Born in Holbeck, West Riding, Yorkshire. He was the son of Nathaniel Burstall (1801-54, born in Hull died in Hunslett), a master mariner and ship owner.

Benjamin became a sculptor between 1851 and 1857 (aged 14 he had no occupation, but by the time he married six years later he was working). He entered into a partnership with Matthew Taylor (1837-89) working under the name of Burstall & Taylor, Sculptors. The firm is listed in several Leeds City directories from the 1860s and 1870s. Their business was located in Cookridge Street near Woodhouse Lane.

Amongst the known projects that Burstall & Taylor executed were the stone carving for: the renovation of St. Stephen's Church, Kirkstall (1864); the building of the Church of St. Mary, Hunslet, Yorkshire (1864); the building of St. Oswald's Church, Fulford, Yorkshire (1866); the building of Christchurch Congregational Church, Ilkley, Yorkshire (1868); the renovation of the Parish Church of Sandal, Wakefield, Yorkshire (1873); and the main staircase and portico of the Bolton, Lancashire, Town Hall, including the recumbent lions flanking the stairs as well as additional external and internal sculpture (1870).

Benjamin Burstall died at the age of 40 of consumption and was buried in Leeds General Cemetery with his parents in plot 4653. Matthew Taylor of Leeds, Sculptor was named as one of the executors of Burstall's will. It is presumed that Taylor continued the business successfully after Burstall's death.

This record includes information submitted by Kurt Etchingham.

Wealth at death: £600 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 4 March 1876

Citing this record

'Benjamin Burstall', 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_1206656594, accessed 23 Mar 2023]