John Skelton

John Skelton, also known as John Shelton (c. 1463 – 21 June 1529), possibly born in Diss, Norfolk, was an English poet. He had been the teacher of King Henry VIII of England and died at Westminster.

Education

Skelton is said to have been educated at Oxford. He certainly studied at Cambridge, and he is probably the "one Scheklton" mentioned by William Cole as taking his M.A. degree in 1484. In 1490, William Caxton in the preface to The Boke of Eneydos compyled by Vyrgyle refers to him in terms which prove that Skelton had already won a reputation as a scholar. "But I pray mayster John Skelton," he says, "late created poete laureate in the unyversite of Oxenforde, to oversee and correct this sayd booke ... for him I know for suffycyent to expowne and englysshe every dyffyculte that is therin. For he hath late translated the epystlys of Tulle, and the boke of dyodorus siculus, and diverse other works ... in polysshed and ornate termes craftely ... suppose he hath drunken of Elycons well."

John Skelton (sculptor)

John Skelton MBE (1923–1999) was the nephew of Eric Gill and was also noted as an important letterer and sculptor after initially being apprenticed to his uncle shortly before Eric Gill's death. He continued his training under Joseph Cribb.

His public work includes the headstone to Edward James at West Dean, a sculpture of St Augustine above the church of that dedication in Bexhill-on-Sea, and the font at Chichester Cathedral (1983). Norwich Cathedral (Our Lady of Pity Sculpture, 1967-8), Salisbury Cathedral (inscriptions) and Winchester Cathedral (inscriptions and side altar) show other examples.

A memorial to the generals of World War II is in St Paul's Cathedral Crypt, London. The tablet commemorating a member of the ship's company of the Mary Rose exists in Portsmouth Cathedral.

Worthing Museum and Art Gallery acquired The Diver (1970), a carving in walnut wood, in 2008. This was made possible through the V&A Purchase Fund and the Friends of the Worthing Museum.

John Skelton (artist)

John Skelton (1925 Co. Armagh – 2009) was an Irish artist.

Biography

He started his professional career in London, where he came under influence of Euston Road School in the late 1940s. In 1946 he married Caroline, settling four years later in Dublin. He worked initially in advertising as Art Director and illustrator of books, most of them educational. After 1975 he worked full-time as a painter. He had numerous one man shows in Dublin; two in Belfast, one in Los Angeles and one in the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.

Up to the late 1980s, Skelton was a frequent exhibitor in group shows, particularly the annual Royal Hibernian Academy and the Watercolour Society shows in Dublin. In recent years, however, his work was in such demand that he contributed to these less often. During the 1970s and earlier 1980s he earned a reputation as a gifted teacher and lecturer in the National College of Art and Design in Dublin.

John Skelton's grave can be found at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Harold's Cross, Dublin, Ireland.