To be updated in due course!
This post was inspired by the serendipitous discovery of my photographs in my files of the monument in the church at Bathford to Martha Maria Phillips of 1759, inscribed on the supporting bracket by John Ford and its comparison with the relief on the monument to Leonard Coward of 1764 originally in the South Aisle in Bath Abbey.
This in turn led me to comparing these reliefs with that of the recently disinterred (June 2020) relief from the monument of Catherine Malone of 1765/67 in Bath Abbey.
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Whilst Thomas King and the Reeve families of Sculptors of Bath have been written about, the Fords father and son have received scant attention - here is an attempt to raise their profiles.
Bath surprisingly did not have a similar "school" of sculptors in the 18th century in the way that Norwich did and most of the Bath sculptors work was distinctly provincial.
Bristol fared only slightly better with the works of the Paty family, as did Gloucester with the Bryans.
John Ford I (1711 - 62).
His will mentions his wife Martha.
Mother Mary Ford, sisters Sarah and Alice (of Colerne) daughters Mary (m Joseph Plura), Betty, Martha and Susanna.
He had 3 Properties in Pierrepoint St, St James Parish which he left to each of his daughters and a property in Duke St, and property in Charles St (off Queen Square) including courtyard, garden and workshops and property in John St which he left to his son John Ford II.
It appears that he had already made arrangements for his daughter Mary and her husband the sculptor Joseph Plura and their children.
John Ford I was the master-mason responsible for building amongst many Bath properties, King Edward's Grammar School in Broad in 1752 and almost certainly executed some of the earlier funeral monuments which had previously been listed under his son, John Ford II (1736 - 1803).
His most important collaborations were with John Wood the elder - in particular the building of Titanbarrow at Bathford.
extract from Mowbray Green
The substance of the Titanbarrow contract is that John Ford, of Walcot, mason, estimated " the Digging for the Foundations, and all the Mason's, Plumber's, Tyler's, Plaisterer's and Painter's Work and Materials necessary to compleat the said House" at the Sum of £396 . 12 . 2 ; George Hatherell, of St. James's Parish, Carpenter, estimated " all the Carpenter's, Joyner's, Glazier's, Smith's, and Ironmonger's Work and Materials " at £283 .18 . 6 ; and Robert Parsons, of Lyncombe and Widcombe Parish, Carver, estimated " the Corinthian Capitals, the Pine Apple Ornaments, with the Heads and Festoons in the West Front, the Inriching all the Mouldings in the same Front, in the Architrave Chimneys, in the Corinthian Entablature round the Drawing Room and Stair Case, and in the Cornice round the Hall, the Cutting the Trusses for the Front Door Case and all the other Carver's Work necessary " at £55 . ig . 4.
John Ford was to be paid £46 . 12 . 2 when the building was at the height of the ground floor sills, another £200 when the house was covered in, and the remaining £150 on completion. George Hatherell was to be paid £83 . 18 . 6 when the house was covered in, £100 when the sashes were put up, the floors boarded and the stairs completed, and the remaining £100 on completion of the work. Robert Parsons was to have £30 . 19 . 4 when the house was covered in, and the remaining £25 on completion of the work. A curious point is that in the first payment odd sums are included, leaving clear balances, exactly the reverse of our present method. It seems to be another proof of the absence of extras on completion. The agreement is dated the 10 th September, 1748, and the work was to be finished by the 24th June following, under a penalty of £100 apiece from each of the three contractors.
The endorsement is an agreement on the part of John Ford to
carry out the earth in the rooms under the Drawing Room and Dressing Room, to
pave the floors, and plaster the walls and ceilings of the same, and complete
them in a workmanlike manner for £16. The total amount to be spent upon the
house was thus £752 . 10 . 0d
In the grounds of Titan Barrow is another older house in
which is a dairy, with the slab quaintly supported on consoles and balusters.
This house is said to have been used as a dormitory by the servants, there
being so little bedroom accommodation in the house itself, and it was probably
altered by Wood, and the dairy fitted up at the same time.
The name of Ford as a builder has a special claim to our
attention, for the late Mr. John Stothert Bartrum, who was a
descendant of his, notes in his " Reminiscences," that in Colerne
Church, near the vestry door, is a tablet to the memory of " Mr. John
Ford, builder, of the City of Bath, who died the 6th of September, 1767, aged
56 years, whose abilities and enterprise in business in a great measure
contributed to the erection of the handsome buildings and streets of that City."
https://archive.org/details/cu31924015704285/page/n313/mode/2up?q=Ford
He was connected to other Bath artists: he collaborated with Robert Parsons on a monument to Howard Packer Winchcombe of 1747 at Bucklebury, Berkshire (see image below) and his daughter Mary (1733-1815) married the sculptor Joseph Plura in 1750.
By May 1753 Joseph Plura had completed the Bath City coat of Arms
for the pediment of King Edwards School, Broad St, Bath, designed and
built on the site of the Black Swan (see Mowbray Green) between 1752 - 54 by Thomas
Jelly for Bath City Council with his father in law John Ford acting as Master
Mason. He was paid 25 guineas.
John Ford I had an address at Charles St Bath and in his will (Prob 11/932/3430) it mentions work yard and shops in John St (now runs parallel to Milsom St).
John Ford II mentions in his will (PROB 11/1388/285)
- the 5 adjoining properties in Charles St and property in New King St (next door)
The Fords in the Bath Press.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette Thursday 02 June 1762 in To be Lett, or Sold The EIGHTH HOUSE On the East Side of Gay-street. Enquire of Mr. JOHN FORD, Builder, in Charles Street, near Queen-Square, BATH;
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday, 09 December
1762.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 02 June 1763. - Ref John Ford Mason of Charles St.
Thomas Jelly (c.1720-1781) became a freeman of the city, on 15 March 1741, after his apprenticeship to Methusalem (sic) Hutchins, carpenter, Later, in 1752, Jelly’s trade is given as ‘joyner and carpenter’
Thomas Jelly, carpenter was involved in the construction of many buildings in Bath -eg the Circus, Brock St, North Parade Blgs, St James's Parade, Chatham Row, the Vinyards and Walcot Parade. see -
https://historyofbath.org/images/documents/Survey%20of%20Old%20Bath%20No%2017.pdf
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 18 April 1765.
Stephen Ford d. 1785.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 03 March 1803.
John Ford died on 6
September 1767 and was buried at Colerne, Wilts, where his epitaph declares
that ‘his abilities and enterprise in business in a great measure contributed
to the erection of the handsome buildings and streets’ of Bath. John Ford II is also interred at Colerne.
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John Ford II (1736 - 1803).
The son of John Ford I, he exhibited a marble bust of the Young Mr Worlidge, son of the artist Thomas Worlidge at the Free Society in 1764. Three years later he was working as a statuary at the Royal Crescent, Bath (check this ref) presumably it refers to the supply of marble chimneypieces.
He died on 23 February 1803 and, like his father, was buried at Colerne, where a monument was erected to his memory.
Henry Bromley
notes a print of ‘John Ford, statuary at Bath’, by T Woolridge (Worlidge?), in his
Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits, 1793 (p. 402).
Most of his monuments are of coloured marbles with large
reliefs and he makes much use of a female figure mourning by an urn, with an
obelisk in the background. Gunnis suggests just such a monument may have
inspired an anonymous correspondent to send a sonnet to the Gentleman’s
Magazine in 1787, with the lines, ‘Then, Sculptor, sparing of thy marble
graces,/ Let thy taught chisel from my tomb-stone speak/ All dove-winged
cherubs with fat baby faces,/ And Christian faith squat by a Roman urn!’ (GM,
1787, ii, 352).
In the list of works given below some of the earlier ones
are almost certainly by the elder Ford.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 155; Potterton 1975, 46;
Colvin 1999, 244, n 27
The Monument to Martha Maria Phillips.
St Swithun's Parish Church, Bathford.
1759.
The monument from the Bath workshop of John Ford I d. 1762.
Here the background of the relief is flat rather than the textured work on the relief of the 1764 monument to Leonard Coward in Bath Abbey.
Dr. Oliver Taylor, Bath Abbey’s Head of Interpretation, Learning and Engagement, research uncovered a detailed description of the Abbey’s monuments dating from 1778 which clearly refers to this monument.
The
entry in J Salmon’s (1778) An Historical Description of the Church Dedicated to
St. Peter and St. Paul in Bath, describes a memorial to an anonymous woman
identified only as ‘C.M.’ as follows:
‘A Monument, with a Pyramid of Dove Marble, and an Oval
Tablet. Over which are two branches of Palm; beneath, in a Basso Relievo, is a
boy sleeping by an urn, with a branch of cyprus in his left hand, resting his
head on an hour-glass, with other statuary ornaments’.
Further research by Dr. Taylor identified the woman as
Catherine Malone (nee Collyer), who was baptized in St. Dionis Backchurch,
London on 2 April 1718. Her father was a wealthy, and by all accounts rather
eccentric, merchant who ‘made his fortune in the South Sea year’ (this is
likely to be a reference to the South Sea Company, which in 1713 was granted a
monopoly to transport thousands of enslaved Africans to the ‘South Seas’ and
South America. Speculative investment in the company in the 1710s led to the
notorious South Sea Bubble – an economic bubble that led to the ruin of
thousands of wealthy investors when the company collapsed in 1720).
In 1736, Catherine married a young Irish lawyer named Edmund
Malone who later became a successful barrister and member of the Irish House of
Commons. Their wedding was a large and ostentatious affair, at the conclusion
of which the young couple were put to bed and each of the 50 guests paraded
through the room to wish them a good night! Four years later the couple, no
doubt keen to move away from Catherine’s strange father, moved to Dublin where
they had six children, two of whom died in infancy.
Unsurprisingly, ‘taking the waters’ did little to help with Catherine’s illness. She died on 1 January 1765 and, like many wealthy patrons who came to Bath in search of a cure, was buried in the Abbey.
Catherine’s
monument, which would have been extremely expensive, was probably commissioned
by her son Edmond, who had by then become a successful lawyer and would go on
to become a renowned Shakespearian scholar. Given his literary leanings, it is
likely that the dedication to ‘C.M.’ – anonymous to all but her family and
friends – was penned by her son.
This memorial, which is depicted in the background of Samuel
Grimm’s 1788 “ A Service at Bath Abbey”. The ‘oval tablet’ bearing the
dedication survives on the north wall of the Abbey; it reads as follows -
During the final phase of excavations on the Bath Abbey Footprint Project between 2018 - 20, the archaeologists recovered an18th-century bas relief marble sculpture.
see - https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/boy-sleeping-discovery-lost-18th-century-sculpture-bath-abbey
In Memory of C.M.
Whose principal Happiness consisted
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A Woodcut by Jos Cross in Remarks on English Churches by JH Markland. 1843.
Page 162.
Here is an example of the current thinking at the time regarding the monuments in the Abbey Church Bath represented in the above publication.
"P. 82. This plate presents a glimpse into the north Transept
of Bath Abbey Church. It has been given, not to ridicule, whatever the hand of
affection may have placed there, but as a striking illustration of that which
has been, not incorrectly, described as " Monumental patchwork on the
walls of Churches ; — marble excrescences ; — sepulchral fungi; — stone
tumours*." We see here how the fair proportions, symmetry, and effect of a
fine Church may be diminished, and injured by the indiscriminate accumulation
of monuments and tablets, when its walls become " tesselated with closely
packed slabs of many colours".
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Henry Harington’s description of the Abbey: ‘These ancient walls, with many a mouldering bust, / But show how well Bath waters lay the dust’ –
and in in 1817, another writer was provoked to a still more powerful (and negative) response. The cantankerous antiquary John Britton was disgusted with what he found in Bath and in Westminster Abbey, which was similarly jam-packed with memorials. He railed against these “monstrous masses of marble”, these “broken-backed horses, rampant and tame lions, figures of Time, Fame, Angels, and Cherubim”. For Britton, these modern accretions were a blight on the beauties of ancient architecture.
Again in 1825 John Britton notes ref Bath Abbey ‘Perhaps there is not a Church in England, not excepting that national mausoleum, Westminster Abbey, so crowded with sepulchral memorials.’
For a rather more enlightened view see Dr Oliver Taylor's Bath Abbey’s Monuments: An Illustrated History, pub 2024. An essential publication for anyone interested in the subject of Church monuments.
View from the East End of the Interior of Bath Abbey, with
Congregation.
Samuel Hieronymous Grimm (1733 - 94).
View, from the east end, of the interior of Bath Abbey, with congregation.
from Grimm's Topographical Drawings, Vol. X. England; 1788. Drawing. Source: Add. 15546, No.101. British Library
The monument is just visible behind the second column from the right.
Nash's monument is almost unique in the Abbey in that it was originally erected thirty years after his death. 122 Dr Henry Harington is credited with having 'originated the idea' for Nash's monument and his initials 'HH' beneath the 'beautiful classic epitaph' show it was written by him. 123
In December 1789, an advertisement was placed in The Bath Chronicle publishing the intention 'to erect a TABLET in the ABBEY CHURCH' to 'rescue from oblivion the name of RICHARD NASH, Esq'. Generous subscribers were invited to contribute, to whom the eventual drawings of the monument would be submitted. Since 'the skill of the Artist' was 'not to be displayed, nor any unmerited praise' conferred, the advert assured its readers that 'a FEW POUNDS may suffice for the execution of the design'.
Fittingly for Nash, subscriptions, 124 In April 1791, could be 'received at the Pump-Rooms, Libraries, and Coffee-Houses the same gentleman who made the advertisement above (possibly Harington) published another, thanking 'the Rev. Dr. Phillott [Rector of the Abbey 1786—1815], and the Churchwardens of St. Peter and Paul, for kindly remitting the usual fees' , the sculptor 'Mr. John Ford, for his very moderate charge for the work', and the subscribers.
Ford's modest fee for carving the monument was £15 15s and, with the cost of the 'Advertisements and other expenses £3 3s', the total cost €18 18s. By which time the fifteen subscribers (including Harington) had given €13 13s.
The total cost of the erection of Nash's monument would have been more than €20. It is not clear how the remaining £5 5s was found, but the advertisement and the discussion of church fees suggests the monument was to be erected imminently.
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_3190534%20(1).jpg)
very poor images below from - https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1324151?section=comments-and-photos
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Sir John Fust and Dame Phillippa Fust.- Funerary Monument - c1779 - St Michael the Archangel, Hill, near Thornbury, Glos.
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John Russ - d. 1758 - Funerary Monument - Castle Cary, Somerset. - No images currently available.
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John St Albyn - Funerary
Monument - 1766 - Stringston, nr Bridgwater. Somerset.
Inscribed Ford Bath Ft on the supporting bracket.
Images above from -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/584528982020638/posts/2074783926328462/
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Morgan Graves - Funerary Monument -†1770 - St Lawrence, Mickleton, Glos.
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Day (or Dawe) family member - Funerary Monument, nd. St Mary Magdalene - Ditcheat,
Somerset.
Another grieving muse. - Truly awful images from the the See Around Britain website.
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Robert Smith - Funerary Monument †1755 - Combe Hay, Somerset.
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Elizabeth Phillips - Funerary Monument. 1759 (illustrated
here above) Bathford, Somerset.
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Barbara Montagu - d. 1765 - Funerary Monument. - Charlecombe, Bath.
Photographs here taken by the author 28 October 2025.
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The Ward family - Funerary
Monument - 1770 - St Martin's, North Stoke, Somerset.
Inscribed on the supporting bracket - Ford Bath Ft.
The top section - the obelisk has been removed (fallen off?), only a small section of the top of the obelisk about 30 cms remains (currently sitting against the wall) without any of the inscription.
Photographs by the author in very low light.
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John Browne - Funerary Monument - 1771 - St Mary's Frampton, Dorset.
Robert Browne - Funerary Monument -1771 - Frampton, Dorset.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St_Mary%27s_church,_Frampton,_Dorset_(interior)
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Robert and George Cox (1777) - Funerary Monument, 1790 -, Piddletrenthide,
Dorset.
see above - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:All_Saints_Church,_Piddletrenthide_(interior)
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Thomas Coward - Funerary Monument - 1773 - Batcombe,
Somerset.
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Jane Talbot d. 1768- Funerary Monument - - St Leonard's, Keevil, Wilts.
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Architectural Sculpture - Twenty vases – 1763 for Sir William Lee, of Hartwell House – untraced.
Presumably Bath Stone.
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George Husey, d. 1741 erected c.1759, - Funerary Monument - North Wall of the Chancel, Holy Cross, Seend, Wilts.
This monument could be much improved with a gentle wash!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Interiors_of_churches_in_Wiltshire
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Sir Samuel Garrard Bt. - Funerary Monument? 1761, Wheathampstead,
Herts.
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Charles Holder - Funerary Monument - ?1763. Bathampton, Somerset.
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Anne Wainhouse - Funerary Monument - ?1771 - Steeple Ashton,
Wilts.
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Charles Inman and Ralph Preston - Funerary Monument ?1772 Spanish Town Cathedral, Jamaica.
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Elizabeth and Robert Clavering - Funerary Monument? -.1773 - St
Peter and St Paul, Marlborough, Wilts.
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Rev Samuel Woodforde - Funerary Monument - 1772 - Ansford,
Somerset.
image from - https://www.parsonwoodforde.org.uk/features-object-ansford-tablet.html
see Diary of a Country Parson, page 113. -available on line at -
https://ia601500.us.archive.org/16/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.227134/2015.227134.The-Diary_text.pdf
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Unidentified subject - Funerary
Monument. nd. St Nicholas, Cork.
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Young Mr Worlidge - Bust – 1764 - Exhibited at the Free Society, London, untraced.
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John Andrews - Funerary
Monument †1762 - St Nicholas, Bromham, Wilts.
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Francis Turner Blyth - Funerary Monument †1770. Jackfield,
Salop. Untraced.
I have written at some length about sculpture and sculptors in Bath in the 18th Century including the Parsons family, the Greenways, Prince Hoare, the Fords and Joseph Pluras and family -
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_15.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_48.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone_52.html...........................
John Plura, Auctioneer. Bath.
John Plura was the son of Joseph Plura and his wife Mary nee Ford
In the 1824 Gye's Bath Directory Mr Plura is listed at John
St. This Plura is the Auctioneer mentioned frequently in the Bath Chronicle.
22 September 1785, Plura (Upholder and Auctioneer) thanks his friends for helping after a fire
at his warehouses - News - Fire - a dreadful fire occurred in warehouses of Mr
Plura, John Street, Bath last Friday between 1 & 2 o'clock. It raged for
several hours, burnt several houses & a large stock of furniture lost.
Several £1,000s worth of damage.
9 Nov. 1786 Marriages: Mr John Plura of Bath to Miss Delaval
(dtr of late Sir Francis Delaval, bart) at St Clement's Church, Strand, on
Friday.
3 July 1788 Insured premises at Milsom St with Sun Fire
Office.
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