Glasgow - City of Sculpture
By Gary Nisbet
Farmer & Brindley
(fl. 1860-1929)

London based firm of architectural sculptors, decorators and church furnishers founded by William Farmer and William Brindley (1832-1919).

They produced much architectural carving for Sir George Gilbert Scott, including his Albert Memorial, London (1863-75), as well as work for a host of other important British architects and sculptors.

In Scotland, they executed the carver work on Sir George Gilbert Scott's University of Glasgow (1864-70); produced the reredos in his St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow (c.1874); the furnishings in St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh (1878); and the marblework in Craigton Park House, St Andrews (1902).

They also executed a chimneypiece at 3 Rothsay Terrace, Edinburgh (1883), carver work on the City Chambers, Glasgow (1882-90) and the marblework in James Miller 's (former) Union Bank, 110-20 St Vincent Street, Glasgow (1927).

Their public work in Scotland includes the monument to Dunbar James, Earl of Selkirk, Kirkudbright (1885).

Their work abroad includes the bronze medallion and marble tablet in Marienbad, Germany, commemorating King Edward VII, for the sculptor T.S. Lee (1911).

Brindley became the firm's sole partner after Farmer's death and was also a painter and prolific author.

In 1887, he penned The Modern Aspect of Marble Work In Architecture, and later collaborated with W.S. Weatherley on Ancient and Sepulchral Monuments, and with Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema on Marbles Their Ancient and Modern Application.

Sources:

  • Journal Of Decorative Art [Glasgow Municipal Buildings], vol. 10, February, 1890, p. 24;
  • A [Obit, Brindley], vol. 101, 21 March, 1919;
  • ABJ [Obit, Brindley], vol. 49, 19 March, 1919;
  • BN [Obit, Brindley], vol. 116, 19 February, 1919;
  • GH [Union Bank], 28 December, 1927, p. 5;
  • Cavanagh ;
  • Gifford (1988), p. 133;
  • Gifford et al. ;
  • Williamson et al. ;
  • RIBA Journal, vol. 14, 1906-7, 26 January, 1907, pp. 169-80, 181-96;
  • Weaver (1915), p. 127;

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