Introduction
Frank Bowcher (1864-1938) was born in Islington, as the son of the etcher, cartoonist and draughtsman Henry Bowcher (the name is sometimes spelt "Boucher"). He was one of Edward Onslow Ford's most important pupils at the National Art Training School in Kensington (see Stocker), and studied in Paris as well. His career took off after he produced a medallic portrait of the Khedive of Egypt in 1886: in the following year the Royal Mint commissioned him to produce designs for the Egyptian coinage. After that he received similar commissions — "from the City of London for the Visit of the King and Queen of Denmark, the Opening of Tower Bridge and the Diamond Jubilee; from the Geological Society for the Joseph Prestwich medal; and from the Royal College of Science for the Thomas Huxley memorial medal... In 1903, following the death of George William de Saulles, Bowcher stepped in to finish the great seal of Edward VII" ("Frank Bowcher").
Bowcher was one of the select group of founder-members of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, and a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy. As his obituary in the Times noted, "He was a prolific artist, but as a great deal of his work was small in scale it was not very familiar to the public.... his reputation was made chiefly as a medallist and designer of seals" (18). One of his unsung works is the carving of cherubs round the font in the Arts and Crafts church, Holy Trinity, Sloane Square (see Reed 335). He also worked on bigger pieces, such as a memorial to Huxley for the Ealing Free library, and a similarly large one for the architect Charles Jones, intended for Ealing Town Hall, but now in Walpole Park nearby. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Related Material
Sculpture
- Memorial to Charles Jones, Walpole Park, Ealing
- Amenemhat III
- John Dalton Hooker
- Henry and Mary Willink
Medals — Royalty
- Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee silvered bronze medal
- Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Badge
- Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Badge
- 1897 Diamond Jubilee Medal for the Victorian Era Exhibition
- Edward VII-Worcester County medal
- George V & Mary Coronation Silver Medal III
- George V & Mary Coronation Gilt Bronze Medal 1911
- Homage of the Empire Medal 1911
- Edward Prince of Wales Home Coming medal
- Queen Victoria Diamond Commerce medal
- Obverse of the Medal Struck” by the Rajah Supendo Mohum Tagore in Honour of the Duke of York’s Wedding
Medals for Institutions and Societies
- Science and Art Department Medal
- Comitatus Vigorniæ
- Franco-British Medal, 1908
- Centenary of the Linnaean Society, Darwin and Wallace Medal
- Franco-British Exhibition medal 1908
- Philatelic Society of London medal
- Medal of Award for the Cope and Nichol School of Painting
- The Royal College of Music Medal, obverse
Medals for Individuals
- Col. J.F. Lewis R.E.
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Charles Bowcher
- Medallion Portrait of a Woman
- Edward Allen Baron Brotherington of Wakefield
- Montague John Rendall
- M.H. Spielmann
- Tower Bridge opening medal, 1894
- David Lloyd George
- Captain A.E. Haynes, R.E.
- Bas relief of T. H. Huxley on the reverse of the Huxley medal (c.1900)
- William Shakspere (honouring William Sharp Ogden)
- John Henry W. Baron Schroder
- Herbert Morris “Welcome Home” medal
- Joseph Hooker Laudatory medal
- Earl of Derby, Guild Mayor of Preston medal
- Henry & Mable Astley-Bell, Preston Guild Merchant medal
Bibliography
Cherry, Bridget, and Nikolaus Pevsner. London 3: North West. Pevsner Architectural Guides. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2002. Print.
"Frank Bowcher." From The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art (2002) in Answers.com. Web. 5 March 2013.
"Notes." Nature, 66 (30 October 1902). Archive. Web. 5 March 2013.
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982. Print.
Spielmann, M. H. “Our Rising Artists: Frank Bowcher, Medallist, with Some Comments on the Medallic Art.” Magazine of Art. 24 (1900): 154-58. Hathi Digital Library Trust version of a copy in the University of Toronto Library. Web. 17 January 2018.
Stocker, Mark. "Ford, (Edward) Onslow (1852-1901)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 5 March 2013.
Last modified 14 November 2019