William Bally
Born 1799 (Circa)
Died 8 November 1858
Active: 1831 - 1856
Country of birth: Switzerland
Country of death: England
Modeller, phrenologist, inventor, manufacturer, wax modeller
Born in Switzerland. Bally was described as an amiable man. He was actively involved with phrenology and owned casts of the skulls of literary and criminal people which he loaned to exhibitions. Bally created small plaster phrenological busts which were shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and were marketed with an accompanying explanation by the phrenologist, Johann Gaspar Spurzheim. In the 1830s and 1840s Bally ran the phrenological gallery in Manchester where he organised an immensely successful exhibition in 1844. He also taught modelling and plaster casting at the Manchester Mechanics Institution for three years.
In 1851 an article about the dangers of wax modelling remarked that Bally had suffered partial and, at times, complete paralysis as a result of his work in this medium over the previous twenty-four to twenty-five years. The pigments used to colour the wax were recognised as having poisoned him (absorbed through the skin while modelling), lead, copper and chrome yellow were named as particularly dangerous substances. Bally died in Chorlton in 1858, rather than returning to Switzerland in 1848 as suggested in Roscoe (2009).
See 'Exhibition at the Saddleworth Mechanics' Institution' from The Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser (West Yorkshire, England), Thursday, July 30, 1853; p. 6; Issue 174. 19th Century British Library Newspapers: Part II; 'Danger of modelling in wax', John Bull (London, England), Saturday, June 28, 1851; p. 420; Issue 1,594 and Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries from The Preston Guardian etc (Preston, England), Saturday, November 13, 1858; Issue 2411.
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.
Locations
Address Devonshire Street Chorlton on Medlock Manchester England | View on map
1841 (Circa)
Address 54 King Street Manchester England | View on map
1851
Address 71 Market Street Manchester England | View on map
1851 (Circa)
Lodging at this address
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
'Artist'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
'Phrenologist'
Sources
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
2010
HO107 piece 580 folio 14/34 page 11
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2005
Class: HO107; Piece: 2229; Folio: 573; Page: 35; GSU roll
England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915
2006
Name: William Bally
Year of Registration: 1858
Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
District: Chorlton
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 392
Citing this record
'William Bally', 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_1206548188, accessed 24 Sep 2023]
