John Thomas (sculptor)

John Thomas (1813–1862) was a British sculptor and architect, who worked on Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster.

Life

John Thomas was born in Chalford, Gloucestershire. Apprenticed to a stonemason after being left an orphan, he later went to Birmingham where his elder brother William Thomas (architect) was an architect. He was noticed by Charles Barry who immediately employed John Thomas as a stone and wood carver on Birmingham Grammar School (now demolished), his first collaboration with Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin.

Barry later appointed him the Supervising Carver on the Palace of Westminster in London, on which he is responsible for all the figures of English kings and queens.

Works

Thomas's work 'Charity' was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and then adapted to form a memorial in Christ Church, Chalford, to his brother Richard who died in 1852. His final work was the colossal statue of William Shakespeare displayed at the 1862 International Exhibition. A dispute over its placement hastened his death in April 1862, and he was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London. His massive (30 ft. high and 40 ft (12 m). in diameter) majolica fountain, also on display at the 1862 exhibition, was placed outside the V&A Museum of Childhood until it was demolished in 1926.

Johnny Thomas (footballer)

Johnny Thomas is a footballer who played as a winger in the Football League for Swindon Town,Chester City and Stockport County.

References

John Thomas (bishop of Rochester)

John Thomas (14 October 1712 – 22 August 1793) was an English churchman, Bishop of Rochester from 1774.

Born in Carlisle, Cumbria, he was the eldest son of John Thomas (died 1747), vicar of Brampton, Cumberland, by his wife Ann, daughter of Richard Kelsick of Whitehaven, a captain in the merchant service. He was educated at the Carlisle grammar school, and went to The Queen's College, Oxford, matriculating on 17 December 1730. Soon after his admission he received a clerkship from the Provost Joseph Smith (1670–1756).

He became assistant master at an academy in Soho Square, and then private tutor to the younger son of Sir William Clayton, bart., whose sister he later married. On 27 March 1737, Thomas was ordained a deacon, and on 25 September received priest's orders. On 27 January 1738, he was instituted rector of Bletchingley in Surrey, a living in the gift of Sir William Clayton. He graduated B.C.L. on 6 March 1742, and D.C.L. on 25 May 1742, and on 18 January 1749, he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to HM The King (George II), a post which he retained under George III.