John Papworth (plasterer)

Papworth was of Italian origin, and was apprenticed to the celebrated stuccoist John Rose, later starting his own business.

[3] He did the plasterwork in the Royal Academy Room at Somerset House, and the ornate ceilings in the chapel at Greenwich Hospital, London, when it was rebuilt in the 1780s by the architect James "Athenian" Stuart, after it had been destroyed by fire.

[4] In Scotland in 1781, he was employed by the architect Robert Milne on Inveraray Castle, Argyllshire; he submitted an invoice for £150 0s 6d for "Plaster work in casts, models and moulds, for ornamented ceilings and walls of hall and the dining room".

[1] Between August and November 1789 he worked at the house of George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis in Berkeley Square where "taking down the ornamental frieze and architrave in the Front Drawing Room and repairing the cornice".

He described himself as an "architect, plasterer and builder", his background being in decorative plasterwork, and he dominated the trade in London in the late 18th century, employing more than 500 men.