The Dictionary was conceived and written by Rupert Forbes Gunnis (1899–1965), a civil servant in the British colonial Government of Cyprus, and later curator of Tunbridge Wells Museum.
He originally hoped to write "a complete dictionary of British sculpture from the earliest times until the close of the last [the 19th] century", but realised that he needed to confine himself to a more manageable period.
In addition to a considerable amount of archival research, Gunnis personally visited over 6,000 churches in Britain (and others in Ireland), and saw the great majority of the works mentioned in the book.
Somerville added that the new dictionary is "a handsome and scholarly reference book detailing British sculptors between the Restoration and the Great Exhibition".
[4] John Kenworthy-Browne, writing in Apollo magazine, said: "This magnificent dictionary of British sculptors supersedes Rupert Gunnis's standard work simply by the sheer volume of information that it presents.
"[5] Similarly in The Art Newspaper, Oliver Garnett of the National Trust wrote: "The result is breathtaking: 1,000 additional biographies, followed by work lists covering 35,000 individual pieces, tied to a bibliography of 3,000 items which will be immensely useful in its own right.