Joseph Hermon Cawthra

During his lifetime he was considered among the leading classical sculptors working in Britain and received several commissions for public monuments, war memorials and architectural sculptures.

From the age of 14 he spent seven years as an apprentice to a monumental stonemason while, from 1904, taking evening classes at the Salts Art School in Shipley until 1907.

[2][3][4] Cawthra was deemed unfit for active service in World War I and spent part of the conflict carving wooden aircraft propellers for the Royal Flying Corps.

[1] In 1941 Cawthra took the post of head of sculpture at the Hull College of Art, a position he retained until 1945 when he reopened his London studio.

[1] In the latter part of his life, Cawthra lived at Sheen, near Richmond in south-west London but died during a visit to Cottingley in Yorkshire.