Joseph Hayes
Born 1869
Died 3 September 1916
Active: 1891 - 1913
Country of birth and death: England
Teacher of sculpture, architectural sculptor, stone carver and modeller
Born in Aldershot, Hampshire of Irish parents, although his father served with the Scots Greys. Joseph’s mother wanted him to train for the priesthood, but was advised that his artistic talents were too good to waste. Hayes was apprenticed to a stone carver in London and went on to start his own business as an architectural sculptor. He appears to have come to the attention of the architect Robert Lorimer in the early 1900s and worked on a number of buildings with him including Boroughmuir School, Viewforth, Edinburgh (built 1911). Hayes' major project was managing the carving for Lorimer's Thistle Chapel in St Giles' Cathedral, High Street, Edinburgh (built 1909-11).
Hayes expanded his workforce overseen by Thomas Sommerville, the foreman, to carry out this project. The firm had accommodation on the ground floor of the Dean Studio where Hayes did his modelling and also a yard at Hope Crescent, Edinburgh. The larger pieces, such as the main figural bosses and angel corbels for the Thistle Chapel, were carved in the yard of Collville & Coy at the foot of Morrison Street. Work continued on the stones as they were erected at the chapel as some of the smaller bosses had to be cut down and re-done. ‘The Greek’, a very talented man who had been in Scotland for a number of years but whose name is unknown, carved the most complicated items. Joseph Hayes volunteered for service in the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) in 1915, despite having a family of five and being well over the age of conscription. He was one of the many who fell in the Battle of the Somme and is buried in France.
This biographical note was written by Louise Boreham and incorporates information supplied by Elaine McQuillan, the granddaughter of Joseph Hayes and research conducted by the Mapping Sculpture project.
Locations
Address High Street Epping England | View on map
1891
A visitor at this address
Address 21 Hope Crescent Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1900 (Circa) - 1910 (Circa)
Studio located at Dean Studios Belford Road Edinburgh Scotland | View on map
1910
4 Belford Rd
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Taught Edinburgh College of Art Sculpture Evening Class
1908
Taught stone and marble carving
Institutional and Business Connections
Assistant teacher of sculpture at The Edinburgh College of Art
1907
Personal and Professional Connections
Worked with Robert Stodart Lorimer
1910 (Circa)
Hayes carved from stone the vaulted roof of the Chapel of the Knights of The Thistle, St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.
The figure work and foliage were executed from Lorimer's designs.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1900-1901
p. 748
Listed under Sculptors
Listed under Sculptors Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1910-1911
p. 964
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Sculptor' and employed
Occupation given in 1901 Scotland Census
'Architectural Sculptor, Carver in marble and C...'
Sources
1901 Scotland Census
2007
Parish: Edinburgh St James; ED: 76; Page: 4; Line: 1; Roll CSSCT1901_374; Year: 1901
A Directory of Scottish Craftsmen and Builders Country Life
27 September 1913
p. 3
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 1363 folio 14 page 24
Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1900-1901
May 1900
p. 748
Listed under Sculptors
Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directory 1910-1911
1910
p. 964
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
Name: Joseph Hayes
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1869
Registration district: Hartley Wintney
Inferred County: Hampshire
Volume: 2c
Page: 174
Prospectus of the Edinburgh College of Art, Session 1908 - 1909
1908 (Circa)
p. 7
SCRAN
1996
(accessed 31 March 2010)
The Edinburgh College of Art Report by the Board of Management for the session 1908 -1909
1909
p. 11
UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
2008
Name: Joseph Hayes
Birth Place: Aldershot, Hampshire
Death Date: 3 Sep 1916
Death Location: France & Flanders
Enlistment Location: Edinburgh
Rank: Corporal
Regiment: Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
Battalion: 1st Battalion
Number: S/9675
Type of Casualty: Killed in action
Theatre of War: Western European Theatre
Citing this record
'Joseph Hayes', 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=msib6_1214832533, accessed 27 Sep 2023]
