William Theed
Born 1804
Died 9 September 1891
Active: 1851
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, medallist
Born at Trentham, Staffordshire and christened on 2 May 1804. He was the son of William Theed (1764-1817) sculptor, Royal Academician and a designer of ceramics and silver who was employed by Wedgwood and then Rundle and Bridge.
William studied under his father and then in Edward Hodges Baily's studio for several years before attending the RA Schools from 1820 where he won a silver medal in 1822.
He worked lived and worked in Rome for twenty years from 1826. Here he studied with Bertel Thorvaldsen, John Gibson and Pietro Tenerani. After returning to London in 1848 he established a flourishing practice aided by the patronage of Albert, Prince Consort.
Wealth at death: £40,751 8s. 3d.
Probate date: November 1893
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.
Models for Bronze Reliefs, Illustrative of English History, erected in the House of Lords
Monument to the Late Duchess of Gloucester, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Model of a monumental statue of Resignation
Posthumous marble bust of William Clifford, Esq., of Perrestone, Ross
Group of the Prodigal's Return
1851
Sappho
1851
Rebecca
1851
Statue of Prometheus
1851
Narcissus
1851
Psyche
1853
Locations
Address 12A Henrietta Street Cavendish Square London | View on map
1849 (Circa) - 1885 (Circa)
Address 2 Cambridge Place Edgeware Road London | View on map
1851 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
'HRH the Prince Consort'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of Art-Industry in Dublin, 1853
'The Betrothed' (marble bust, p. 106 (111), offered for sale £40 0s. 0d.).
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
p.53
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1824 - 1885
Exhibited 37 times (14 times prior to 1851), usually three to five works per year.
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Institutional and Business Connections
Advisor to Wills Brothers
1860 (Circa)
Theed advised the Wills brothers on the modelling of drinking fountains for the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association
Member of Institute of British Sculptors
Not a member in 1861, but possibly a member before or after this date
Personal and Professional Connections
Collaborated with George Gilbert Scott
Mother/father/parent of Edward Francis Toone (Frank) Theed
Studied under Edward Hodges Baily
Probably before 1820
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin, Gem, and Seal-Engravers, Mint Masters, &c., Ancient and Modern with References to their Works, B.C. 500 - A.D. 1900, Volume VI, 1916 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Listed as a sculptor who studied at the Royal Academy, London. Forrer states that 'the obverse design of the Hong Kong Dollar and subdivisions of Queen Victoria, 1866, was from a medallion prepared by Wm. Theed, to whom Her Majesty gave a sitting'. See Forrer, vol. 6, (1916), p. 56.
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
Sources
'Memorial sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome: New discoveries and an inventory of identified works'
2022
p. 198, p. 208, and p. 212
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 1236-43
Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851
Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue
1851
p. 711 (2)
Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition of Art Industry in Dublin, 1853.
1853
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
List of Members: Institute of British Sculptors (or Sculptor's Institute)
2008 (Circa)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Martin Greenwood, ‘Theed, William, the younger (1804–1891)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27162, accessed 22 Dec 2009]
Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1851
p. 1365
Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1860
p. 1803
Rules of the Institute of Sculptors
1861
p. iv (confirms he was not a member in 1861)
The Builder, Vol. 18, 14 April 1860
14 April 1860
pp. 232, 233
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
1852
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
1855
p.53
Citing this record
'William Theed', 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_1206447353, accessed 02 Apr 2023]
