Edmund Ware (sculptor)

Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware (29 September 1883–26 July 1960) was a British teacher and sculptor.

He was born in Plaistow in Essex in 1883,[1] the son of Emma (1858-) and Edmund Labdon Ware (1852-1939), a police constable.[2] Ware studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London where he received a silver medal and a prize of £5.[3]

He first registered his mark as an independent silversmith in October 1903, and a figural silver spoon crafted by him in 1904 is in the Pear Tree Collection.[4] He taught goldsmithing and jewellery at the Central School of Art and Design (1905-1940).[5] In the 1911 Census he was listed as 'Artist, Sculptor' and his place of employment as 52 Doughty Street in London. During World War I Ware served as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps, in the Royal Army Service Corps, and as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers.[6][7] Ware was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1916 and acted as its vice-president between 1948 and 1953. He became a Fellow in 1943.[8]

Ware sculpted the replacement memorial plaque on the front of the Gerrards Cross Memorial Building in 1947

Among others, Ware exhibited his work at: the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (1910);[9] the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (1913, 1914, 1934, 1935 and 1940), and at the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art Fifty-Third Annual Exhibition (1935).[1] In 1940 he took up sculpting as a profession.[5] In 1947 he sculpted the replacement plaque on the front of the Gerrards Cross Memorial Building.

In 1914 in London he married Theodora Margaret Sothern Lancaster (1885-1977),[10] the older sister of the artist Lilian Lancaster (1886-1973). The engagement ring, designed and crafted by Ware in 1912, is displayed in the Jewellery Gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[5] Their daughter was the lithographer and enamelist Margaret Reade née Tennant Ware (1916-2006)[11] and their son was John Lancaster Ware (1920-2004).

In his later years Ware lived at 18 Gunter Grove in Chelsea in London. He died in 1960 and in his will left an estate valued at £8982 11s. 3d. to his widow.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b 'Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware, accessed 01 Jul 2023
  2. ^ Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware in the London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1923
  3. ^ Annual Report from the Council of The Royal Academy to the General Assembly of Academicians for the Year 1911', 1912, p. 40
  4. ^ A large Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware figural silver spoon, the Pear Tree Collection
  5. ^ a b c Engagement ring (1912), Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum
  6. ^ Edmund T W Ware in the Edmund T W Ware in UK, British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards
  7. ^ Edmund T W Ware in UK World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls
  8. ^ Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware 1883-1960, Artist Biographies: British and Irish Artists of the 20th Century
  9. ^ Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Ninth Exhibition. 1910, p.61, p.65, p.87
  10. ^ Edmund Ware and Theodora Lancaster in the London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938
  11. ^ Margaret Reade, University of York Information Directorate
  12. ^ Edmund Thomas Wyatt Ware in England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995