british war memorials · gilbert bayes

additional information selection box

use the down arrow to view option ========================= ---------- section a ---------- argentine graves [Rem] asquith, lieutenant raymond [BWM] ========================= ---------- section b ---------- baltic exchange [BWM] battle britain memorial flight [BWM] bayes, gilbert [BWM] bean, charles [BWM] blighty, a soldier's dream of [BWM] british medical association [BWM] ========================= ---------- section c ---------- canada and liverpool [BWM] cenotaph, new zealand [BWM] chopsticks memorial [BWM] cochrane, admiral lord thomas [Rem] collingwood, vice admiral lord [BWM] ========================= ---------- section f ---------- fishguard [BWM] ========================= ---------- section g ---------- glasgow university memorial chapel [BWM] grenfell, captain the honourable julian [Rem] ========================= ---------- section h ---------- halifax bomber lw 340 [Rem] havelock, major general sir henry [BWM] helles memorial [BWM] home guard memorial (torbay) [BWM] hollis vc, stanley [BWM] horner, lieutenant edward [BWM] ========================= ---------- section k ---------- king’s own royal regiment memorial chapel [BWM] king's royal rifle corps [BWM] ========================= ---------- section l ---------- lincoln cathedral [BWM] ========================= ---------- section m ---------- malta [BWM] madingly [Rem] montford, paul [BWM] mckenzie, dr r tait [BWM] midleton, lord [BWM] music of remembrance [Rem] ========================= ---------- section n ---------- nelson's island [Rem] newgass, lieutenant harold [BWM] ========================= ---------- section p ---------- polish war memorial [BWM] ========================= ---------- section r ---------- rugby school memorial chapel [BWM] ========================= ---------- section s ---------- sandhurst, royal memorial chapel [BWM] sicily [Rem] st brides church [BWM] stirling bomber n 3654 [Rem] strange burial, a [Rem] ========================= ---------- section t ---------- turing, alan [BWM] ========================= ---------- section w ---------- wakeful, HMS [Rem] wakenshaw vc, private adam [BWM] williams, lieutenant colonel henry [Rem] women at war memorial [BWM]

Gilbert Bayes was born at St Pancras in London on 4 April 1872 and came from an accomplished artistic family. He was son of the artist, engraver and etcher Alfred Walter Bayes (1832-1909) and brother of the artist and lecturer Walter John Bayes (1869-1956). His sister, Jessie Bayes (1876-1970) was a miniaturist painter and designer in the Arts and Crafts style. Gilbert studied at the City and Guilds College, Finsbury and in the period 1896-99 at the RA Schools.

“His remarkable Portland stone bas relief at the entrance to Lord's Cricket Ground at St John's Wood in London looks as fresh today, as it did when it was unveiled in September 1934”

After winning their Gold Medal and Travelling Scholarship in 1899, he studied in Paris and exhibited at the 1900 Exposition Universale. He subsequently travelled in France and in Italy. As a sculptor, he was particularly interested in the use of colour and sculpture for decorative purposes. His prolific output included medals, trophies, designs for Doulton, architectural sculpture and other ornamental work as well as statues.

He married his fellow sculptor Gertrude Smith in 1906. One of his most familiar works is the richly ornamented Queen of Time (1908) which supports the clock above the main entrance of Selfridge's in Oxford Street, London.

In 1909, working with Sir Aston Webb, he was one of 21 sculptors engaged to carry out work on the southern facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum and there he executed the portrait statues of Sir William Chambers and Sir Charles Barry. Bayes Monument to Edwyn Francis Sendamore may be found in St Cuthbert's Churchyard, Herefordshire.

He succeeded Sir George Frampton as sculptor of choice to St James Church, Warter, Yorkshire and his monuments in bronze can be seen there to G V Wilson (1909) and 1st Lord Nunburnholme (1910). Bayes designed The Great Seal of King George V and sculpted the statue of Joseph Priestly on Sir John Burnet's Institute of Chemistry, Russell Square, London (1914).

After the Great War, he sculpted the war memorials at Holme Lacey in Herefordshire, at his parent's hometown of Todmorden, Yorkshire and at Aldeburgh, Suffolk. In 1930 Bayes produced the Seagrave Trophy to commemorate the life of Sir Henry Seagrave.

A 1931 frieze by Bayes survives above the entrance to the cinema on Shaftsbury Avenue close to Cambridge Circus, London. His remarkable Portland stone bas relief at the entrance to Lord's Cricket Ground at St John's Wood in London looks as fresh today, as it did when it was unveiled in September 1934. 'In 1935, Gilbert Bayes designed a medal to commemorate the launching of the new Cunard ocean liner, the Queen Mary. In all, 3000 were struck in Bronze, each priced at 15 shillings each available from the Royal Mint, or on-board. It was reported in October 1935 that they were 'still selling like hot cakes on every voyage'. The reverse shows a view of New York as if seen through the arches of the Bargate in Southampton.'

In 1948 he designed The Binney Memorial Medal for the Goldsmiths Company. His bronze statue of the philanthropist and enlightened industrialist Robert Owen in Newtown, Powys, in Wales was completed after his death by W C H King. Gilbert Bayes was elected Member of the Art Workers Guild in 1896. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1918. He was Master of the Art Workers Guild 1925-26. He was author of Modelling for Sculpture: A Book for the Beginner (1930).

In the period 1939-44, he served as President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and as Vice President of the Incorporated Association of Architects. Gilbert Bayes died on 10 July 1953. The culmination of his working relationship with Doulton was his frieze for Royal Doulton House on the Albert Embankment in London entitled Pottery through the Ages (1939). The building was demolished in 1978, but the frieze was removed and may be seen in the Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Gallery, which fittingly enough is at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.