William Easson Tocher
Born 11 April 1911
Died 1968
Active: 1931 - 1966
Country of birth and death: Scotland
Sculptor, teacher
Born in Arbroath, Scotland. He later moved to Northern Ireland and began his studies at Belfast School of Art. The sources currently suggest an overlap between his last year at that college and his enrollment at the Royal Academy Schools in September 1931, this needs further clarification. On completion of his studies in London, Tocher entered and won the competition for the scholarship in sculpture at the British School in Rome (1937-39). He became Head of Modelling and Sculpture at Manchester School of Art (c.1946-66) after the Second World War. Tocher returned to live on the Black Isle, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland around 1966, where he died aged 57.
This record includes information supplied by Kathleen Fraser and Emma McVeigh with additional details supplied by Adrian Hicken from Tocher's student record in the Royal Academy of Arts Archives and from the Special Collections Department of Manchester Metropolitan University Library.
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.
Brenda - Half figure
1934 (Presumed)
Rhonda - Head
1935 (Presumed)
Daphne - Head
1936 (Presumed)
Sophie
1938 (Presumed)
Diana
1938 (Presumed)
Head of a Young Man
1943 (Presumed)
Portrait Bust
1943 (Presumed)
Bust of a Child
1943 (Presumed)
Air Raid Warden
1943 (Presumed)
Basil Lord, Esq.
1944 (Presumed)
Selma
1944 (Presumed)
Birth of Venus
1944 (Presumed)
R. M. McBirney, Esq.
1945 (Presumed)
Half figure
1947 (Presumed)
Mamiti
1949 (Presumed)
Locations
Address 172 Warwick Road London England | View on map
1933 (Presumed) - 1935 (Presumed)
Address 62 Lillie Road West Brompton London England | View on map
1935 - 1949 (Probable)
Address Cavendish Street Manchester 15 England | View on map
1949
Address Sandy Lane Cottage Toft near Knutsford England | View on map
1951 (Circa) - 1962 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Beneficiary of Leverhulme Scholarships (Royal Academy of Arts), 1932-1951
19 January 1937
Received a Leverhulme Scholarship of £100 in 1937.
Exhibited at The Spring Exhibition, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, City Art Gallery, Manchester, 1949
'Seated Figure'
Exhibited at Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, The Ninety-First Spring Exhibition, City Art Gallery, Manchester, 1950
'Lady Simon of Wythenshawe'
Exhibited at Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, The Ninety-Second Spring Exhibition, City Art Gallery, Manchester, 1951
'Timothy Lowe'
Exhibited at The Ulster Arts Club Annual Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, 1943
1943
Exhibited at The Ulster Arts Club Annual Exhibition of Oil and Water Colour Pictures & Craftwork, Municipal Art Gallery, 1945
1945
Exhibited at Ulster Arts Club Annual Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, 1947
1947
Exhibited at Ulster Arts Club Annual Exhibition, 1944
1944
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1933 - 1962
Exhibited 8 times (six times up to 1951), 11 works in all (statuettes and portrait heads)
Won prize Landseer Scholarships (Royal Academy of Arts), 1884-1950
1932 - 1934
Two years, whilst studying also engaged in architectural work in London (Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 17th February 1938, p.3. ‘Belfast College of Art, exhibition opened by Vice-Chancellor’)
Won prize The British School at Rome Scholarship in Sculpture
1937 - 1939
'£250 per annum, tenable for two years' (Belfast Education Committee Minutes, April 1937). His winning entry for the Rome Scholarship was exhibited at the Imperial Institute, South Kensington, early in 1937 and reproduced in 'The Times' on 24 April.
Institutional and Business Connections
Member of council Ulster Arts Club
1945
Studied at Belfast School of Art
1930 (Circa) - 1932 (Circa)
Whilst studying at the art school Tocher won a number of prizes:
- ‘Royal Dublin Society Irish National Art Competition’
Class 27 – A set of three time studies in any Medium of the nude figure from life: Prize awarded to Crawford Mitchell, Belfast School of Art, Commended William Easson Tocher, Belfast College of Art (Irish Times, 5th July, 1930, p.5).
- In 1931
Class 17: 1st prize awarded to William E. Tocher, College of Art , Belfast
Class 21: 1st prize awarded to William E. Tocher (Irish Times, 13th June, 1931, p.13).
- ‘Royal Dublin Society Awards’
Class 4, optional medium: Prize of £5 to painter of no.8, landscape, William Easson Tocher.
‘Irish national Art Competition’
Class 13, students attending schools of art under the age of 25: Prize awarded to William E. Tocher.
Class 16, sheet of 3 drawings in any medium: Prize awarded to William E. Tocher.
Class 17, Sheet of 3 time studies: Prize of £2 awarded to William E. Tocher.
Class 26, Figure composition, suitable for decoration of a school or library: Prize awarded to William E. Tocher. (Irish Times, 7th July, 1932 p.4)
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
15 December 1931 - 1936
Entered the RA Schools in September 1931 and formally admitted the following December. In 1932 Tocher won a £5 Turner Prize for a model of a design of a subject combined with architecture, a first Landseer Prize of £30 and silver medal, for a set of three models of a figure from the life, and a two year Landseer Scholarship for sculpture. See Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1932', (1933), pp. 42-44. In 1933, he won a second Landseer Prize of £10 and bronze medal, for two models of busts from the life. See 'Annual Report, 1933', (1934), p. 39. In 1934 (information from Adrian Hicken) Tocher won three further prizes: Ist Model of a Design; Ist 2 models of Busts; and Model from the Antique.
Teacher of sculpture at Manchester School of Art
1946 (Circa) - 1966 (Circa)
Tocher first appears in the Calendars of the Manchester Municipal School of Art for academic year 1946-1947 with the title of Head of the Department of Modelling and Sculpture. His last entry appears in academic year 1965-1966. (Information from Adrian Hicken.)
Sources
Catalogue of the Ninetieth Spring Exhibition, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, 1949
1949
Cat. No. 309, pp. 23, 30
Catalogue of the Ninety First Spring Exhibition, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, 1950
1950
Cat. No. 224, pp. 19, 29
Catalogue of the Ninety Second Spring Exhibition, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, 1951
1951
Cat. No. 262, pp. 22, 29
Catalogue of The Ulster Arts Club Annual Exhibition 1944
1944
Catalogue of The Ulster Arts Club Annual Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, 1943
1943
Catalogue of The Ulster Arts Club Annual Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, 1947
1947
Manchester Municipal School of Art, Prospectus, 1950-51
1950
p. 6
The British School at Rome: one hundred years
2001
p. 211
William Scott, 2007
2007
pp. 18, 27
Citing this record
'William Easson Tocher', 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_1228410680, accessed 29 Sep 2023]
