Miss Frances (Fanny) Taplin Darlington
Other names: Fanny was her given name but she preferred to be called Frances.
Born 3 February 1880
Died 5 September 1940
Active: 1900 - 1920
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, medallist
She was born in Headingley, Leeds. Her father, Latimer John De Vere Darlington was a solicitor working in Harrogate and her mother was Ellen Emma née Taplin. Frances studied sculpture at the Slade School of Art and then at the School of Art and Design in South Kensington. Her earliest works were portrait busts and relief panels with religious and mythological subjects, for which she often used her family and friends as models. Dorothy Marriott, Frances' younger sister, frequently modelled for her sister, reflecting their particularly close relationship.
Darlington exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, at the Paris Salon and in New Zealand and the USA. Her public commissions included a statue of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, for the Market Place in Birstall, West Yorkshire (1912), and a large war memorial plaque for St George's House Police Orphanage in Harrogate. (This work was later given to the Ripon Police Museum where it is on display.)
Amongst her other major works are the reliefs depicting the Stations of the Cross for the church she attended, St Wilfrid's Church, Duchy Road, Harrogate (architect Temple Moore). Frances also created a seventy-foot decorative frieze comprising eleven plaster panels illustrating drama and poetry for the foyer of the Opera House, Harrogate (now known as Harrogate Theatre). She died in Oxted, Surrey, probably of heart failure.
There was an exhibition of Frances Darlington's work entitled 'Heavenly Creatures – Sculpture by Frances Darlington' at the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate from November 2003 to January 2004, which included loans from Leeds City Art Gallery, Kirklees Museums and private collections. The Mercer Art Gallery owns a painting of 'The Sculptor's Loft (Miss Frances Darlington's Studio in Knaresborough)' by Elise M. Bayley (c.1870-1955) viewable at http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-sculptors-loft-miss-frances-darlingtons-studio-in-knare8879 (accessed 5 August 2013).
This entry includes information submitted by Jane Sellars, Curator of Art, Mercer Art Gallery, and the artist's great great niece, Louise Marchal. The information about the war memorial for St George's House Police Orphanage was submitted by Peter Taylor, webmaster for www.stgeorgesharrogate.org (this site includes pictures of the plaque).
Wealth at death: £58 2s. 11d.
Probate date: 18 November 1940
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.
Bust of Girl
£3 3s.
Portrait Statuette, Hugh Darlington, Imperial Yeoman
Locations
Address 3 Sefton House Harrogate England | View on map
1900 (Circa)
Address Alexandra House Kensington Gore London W England | View on map
1901 (Circa)
One of two sculpture students amongst 50 residents at this home for women studying art, music, needlework and wood carving
Address Burland House Harrogate England | View on map
1903 (Circa) - 1905 (Circa)
Address Chester Lodge Ilkley England | View on map
1906 (Circa) - 1908 (Circa)
Address Oxenhope Ripon Road Harrogate England | View on map
1909 (Circa)
Address 2 Langcliffe Mount Leeds Road Harrogate England | View on map
1910 (Circa)
Address Dutton Cottage Limpsfield Oxted England | View on map
1940
Living at this address at the time of her death.
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Arts & Crafts Exhibition, 1900
'Bust of Girl'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1903
'Confidences'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1904
'Portrait Statuette, Hugh Darlington, Imperial Yeoman'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Arts & Crafts Exhibition, 1904
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1906
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1908
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1910
'Cupid and Coquette'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1901 - 1909
Exhibited five times, one work each year (two panels and one bust).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirty-first (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1901
1901
Confidences (cat. no. 1549, copper medallion, £8 8s.).
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Student Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor' working on own account at home
Sources
Catalogue of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition 1900
1900
Cat. Nos. 11, 12, pp. 69, 75
Catalogue of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition 1904
1904
Cat. Nos. 1172, 1189, 1192, 1255, pp. 70, 71, 72, 76, 127
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1903
1903
Cat. No. 363, 539, pp. 39, 54, 71
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1904
1904
Cat. No. 674, pp. 65, 91
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1906
1906
Cat. Nos. 263, 437, pp. 29, 41, 82
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1908
1908
Cat. Nos. 475, 492, pp. 43, 44, 76
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1910
1910
Cat. No. 546, pp. 45, 70
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 3528 folio 40 page 2
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
RG13 piece 83 folio 168 page 68
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN25912 RG78PN1500 RD489 SD2 ED7 SN1
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Fanny Taplin Darlington
Probate Date: 18 Nov 1940
Death Date: 5 Sep 1940
Death Place: Surrey, England
Registry: Llandudno
Citing this record
'Miss Frances (Fanny) Taplin Darlington', 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_1208903195, accessed 22 Sep 2023]