Mary Pownall (Bromet)
Other names: Mrs. A Bromet
Born 1862
Died 25 February 1937
Active: 1890 - 1937
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor
Born in Leigh, Lancashire, birth registered between April-June 1862 (later gave date of birth as 1867). She was the daughter of James Pownall (born c.1834 in Manchester), a silk manufacturer. Mary studied in Frankfurt (1 year), Paris (6 years including 1897-8) where she was a pupil of Rodin, and Rome (4 years around 1900). She married Alfred Bromet, a barrister, in about 1902 or 1903.
Mary Bromet was the sculptor of the war memorial in Watford, which was originally sited outside the Peace Memorial Hospital and is now located close to the Town Hall. The memorial comprises three nude male figures on separate plinths connected by a curved wall. The central figure is standing with his right arm raised, whilst the two flanking figures are seated (the one to the left in a pose that recalls Rodin's 'Thinker'). The memorial was cast by the Singer foundry and was unveiled on 13 June 1928 by the Earl of Clarendon. Bromet died in Oxhey, Herts.
Bromet's authorship of Watford War Memorial was drawn to the attention of the project by Peter Risdon. The description is derived from the UK War Memorials database: http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/2950 (accessed 19 June 2016).
Wealth at death: £2,383 12s. 5d.
Probate date: 3 May 1937
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.
Politics
1931 (Circa)
A La Recherche de la Brebis Perdue
Love or Money
1906 (Presumed)
The Intruder
1906 (Presumed)
The Great Specialist
1907 (Presumed)
A Ragamuffin
1907 (Presumed)
A Bolshevic Commissar
1923
p. 172
Locations
Address 8 St. Aidan's Terrace Claughton Birkenhead | View on map
1890 (Circa)
Address 47 Rue Tangier Paris | View on map
1897 (Circa)
Address 53b Via Margutta Rome | View on map
1900
Address Lime Lodge Pinner Road Watford | View on map
1903 - 1931
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Eightieth Autumn Exhibition at the Rooms of the Society, New Street (Royal Birmingham Society of Artists), 1906-1907
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Eighty-First Autumn Exhibition at the Rooms of the Society, New Street (Royal Birmingham Society of Artists), 1907-1908
'A Ragamuffin'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1905
Multiple works
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1907
'The Great Specialist'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, The Spring Exhibition, 1910
'The Kiss'
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Eighth Autumn Exhibition, 1890
Multiple works
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Fifteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1897
'Mercury'
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Sixty-Second Annual Exhibition, 1923
'A Bolshevic Commissar'
Exhibited at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Seventieth Annual Exhibition, 1931
'Politics'
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-first (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1891
1891
A Lover of Nature (cat. no. 1267, plaster statuette, 'For the dear Lord who loveth us / He made and loveth all', Coleridge, £25).
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1897 - 1932
Exhibited 20 times, usually one or two works, often busts but also statuettes and figure groups.
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-seventh (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1897
1897
Mrs C. P. Gibbons (cat. no. 1279, marble bust, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirty-first (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1901
1901
Portrait of Miss L. Pownall (cat. no. 1589, plaster low relief, not for sale); Acquadotto Claudio, Roma (cat. no. 1647, silver low relief, £12 12s.).
Exhibited at The Seventy-Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1923-4
2 October 1923 - 2 February 1923
Exhibited at The Eighty-Second Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1927-1928
31 October 1927 - 4 February 1928
Institutional and Business Connections
Associate member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
30 March 1932 - 1937
Died in 1937.
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor' working on own account at home
Sources
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the thirty-first, 1901 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1901
p. 47 and p. 49
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-seventh, 1897 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1897
pp. 44-47.
Catalogue for the Eighty-Second Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1927
1927
Catalogue for the Seventy-Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Royal West of England Academy, 1923
1923
Catalogue of the Eighth Autumn Exhibition, 1890
1890
Cat. No. 708, pp. 54, 67
Catalogue of the Fifteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1897
1897
Cat. No. 423, pp. 44, 56
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1905
1905
Cat. Nos. 845, 853, pp. 73, 74, 81
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1907
1907
Cat. Nos. 720, 722, 726, pp. 57, 58, 68
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1910
1910
Cat. No. 549, pp. 45, 81
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
2004
Class: RG11; Piece: 3530; Folio: 65; Page: 15; GSU roll: 1341845
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN7718 RG78PN380 RD140 SD2 ED20 SN161
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
Registration district: Leigh, Lancs (Greater Manchester; Vol. 8c; Page 2[14]5
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
Name: Mary Pownall
Registration Year: 1862
Registration Quarter: Apr-May-Jun
Registration district: Leigh
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 2145
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Mary Bromet
Probate Date: 3 May 1937
Death Date: 25 Feb 1937
Death Place: Hertfordshire, England
Registry: London, England
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Who was Who
December 2007
‘POWNALL, Mary (Mrs A. Bromet)’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U215719, accessed 22 Jan 2009]
Citing this record
'Mary Pownall (Bromet)', 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_1210004966, accessed 02 Oct 2023]
