Thomas Wilkinson Wallis

Born 4 February 1821
Died 26 August 1903

Active: 1834 - 1898

Country of birth and death: England

Sculptor, wood carver, painter, surveyor, public health inspector

Born in Hull. He was the son of Samuel Wallis (born 1788 in Hull), a cabinet maker, grocer and book keeper. From the age of nine, Thomas worked as an errand boy, and then served an apprenticeship as a carver and gilder to Thomas Ward in Waterworks Street, Hull (1834-41). In 1842 he worked for Constantine and Co in Leeds, where his older brother, Samuel (c.1812-73), was foreman of the carving shop. After three years working as a journeyman, Wallis moved to Louth and established a business on his own account.

In 1846 he sold his first piece of 'fancy carving' for £2 to a Mr Tuke of York. Wallis also drew architectural views which he reproduced as lithographs. In 1850 his carvings won a silver medal at the Society of Arts and a year later attracted significant attention at the Great Exhibition of 1851. This allowed Wallis to give up his trade and become a sculptor in wood. Over the next decade his work was widely exhibited and he received many commissions including the pulpit for St James's Church, Louth and a frame and the Mayor's Board for Louth Town Hall. However, by the early 1870s failing eyesight forced Wallis to take up a new profession and he became a public health inspector and borough surveyor (1873-93). In 1899 he published an autobiography based on extracts from his journal.

To mark Wallis's 80th birthday in 1901, the sculptor Harry Hems contributed an appreciation to 'The British Architect': 'Thomas Wilkinson Wallis of Louth Lincolnshire, undoubtedly the Grinling Gibbons of the 19th century, celebrated the 80th anniversary of his birth last Monday. Our readers will be glad to learn the grand old man is at present in the enjoyment of excellent health, and, although he has long since given up the production of those exquisite wood carvings of still life that caused all the world to wonder at the Great Exhibition of 1851, he still occupies much of his leisure time in painting in oils... Mr Wallis was born in Hull of poor, but respectable parents, on February 4th 1821, and although at birth was a weakly child, never expected to survive more than a few months, has been spared to become a hale old patriarch. Continuous application to the delicate manipulation of his wonderful art caused him at last to go almost quite blind, and he had to give up carving for less trying pursuits. In 1895 he received the long service silver medal after being Quartermaster sergeant of the Louth Volunteers for 20 years. We trust health and strength may yet be preserved to the aged craftsman, who, it was universally admitted at the 1851 Greater Exhibition, beat the whole world in the beauty of his handiwork.' ['The British Architect', 8 February 1901, p. 93]

There are examples of Wallis's work in Hereford Art Gallery; the Usher gallery, Lincoln; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. However, the Louth Museum owns the largest collection of his sculptures including: a Group of flowers and buds (aged 14), 1835; Punch's Library (book case), 1850; Heron with bulrush and ivy, 1853; Woodcock and hawthorne, 1854; Brace of Partridge, 1856; Fragments of gargoyles' wings removed from Louth market hall clock tower, 1867; Partridges and ivy, 1871; and several undated domestic items (a spill holder, a tea caddy and a jewellery box).

The list of Wallis's works has been provided by Geoff Hill, Manager of the Louth Museum, http://www.louthmuseum.org.uk.

Between 5 May-26 August 2012 Louth Museum mounted an exhibition of Wallis's work entitled 'The National Exhibition of Thomas Wallis Woodcarvings'. There are further details: http://www.louthmuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/louth_museum_tw_wallis_exhibition.html (accessed 21 January 2013)

Wealth at death: £1,232 15s. 9d.
Probate date: 8 October 1903

Citing this record

'Thomas Wilkinson Wallis', 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=msib7_1205428318, accessed 29 Mar 2023]