with some further tangential notes which might be of interest.
The first version of this statue was first created by John Bacon for the Marine Society in 1788 and exhibited by Mrs Eleanor Coade (under her name) at the Royal Society of Artists (no. 286) and is illustrated in the Coade Catalogue for 1784.
A version described as by John Bacon was on display in the Coade Gallery at the foot of Westminster Bridge at Lambeth in 1799.
The Marine Society - a few notes.
Instituted 1756, by Fowler Walker, Esq., Sir John Fielding, and Jonas Hanway, for the purpose of fitting out beggar-boys and others for service at sea.
This Society places out annually from 500 to 600 boys, principally in the merchant service. A yearly subscription of 2 guineas or of 12 guineas at one time constitutes a governor. The present house was built for the Society in 1774.
Jonas Hanway. (1712-86).
Merchant and philanthropist; apprenticed, 1729, in Lisbon; set up a partnership in St Petersburg and travelled, 1743, with a caravan of woollen goods, into the interior of Russia and Persia; after further travels returned to London and published his adventures; founder of the Marine Society, 1756; established Magdalen charity (Hospital), 1761, governor and later vice president of the Foundling Hospital and commissioner for victualling the navy, 1762-83; and helped to establish the Magdalen Hospital for Penitent Prostitutes. He also supported the Stepney Society, which apprencticed poor boys to marine trades, and the Troop Society which provided clothing to British soldiers.
He pioneered the umbrella in England.
For Hanway and Canada see - Philanthropy and Propaganda: The Bust of George III in Montréal byJoan Coutu. Bust by Joseph Wilton.
https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/racar/1992-v19-n1-2-racar05610/1072852ar.pdf
for the Joseph Wilton Bust of George III at Montreal see - https://allthingsliberty.com/2022/03/king-george-iiis-montreal-bust-in-a-pattern-of-iconoclasm/
1765. Bust. George III, by Joseph Wilton. The bust of King George III of England (1738-1820) was erected in the heart of Place d'Armes between 1766 and 1776.
Following the implementation of the Quebec Act (1775),
disgruntled English citizens vandalized the monument, which disappeared the
following winter during the American invasion. The bust was finally recovered
in 1834, at the bottom of a well in Place d'Armes, where it had apparently been
thrown by American insurgents.
......................
For some 19th century references to the Marine Society see -
https://www.victorianlondon.org/charities/marinesociety.htm
........................
Not yet accessed -
The Marine Society: A Catalogue of the Pictures, and Other
Works of Art, at the Society's Offices, Clark's Place, Bishopsgate Street,
E.C., : with a Short Historical Account of the Society's Offices from 1756 to
the Present Day, and a List of Presidents, Vice-presidents, Treasurers and
Officers of the Society by Henry TA Bosanquet. pub 1905.
............................
The Coade Statue of Charity with a Boy.
Indented Coade Lambeth 1793.
Height 130cms - 50 inches.
Modelled by John Bacon.
Removed from a property in Hampstead, London.
Sold by Cheffins, Auctioneers, lot 691, 26 March 2026.
Purchased by a private collector and currently awaiting restoration.
Given the indented date of 1793 this cannot be the statue from the Marine Society building in Bishopsgate which was included in the post 1784 catalogue and exhibited at the Society of Artists Exhibition in 1778.
A version stood in the Anti Room of the Cllery by Westminster Bridge in 1799.
....................................
Marine Society Building, 54 Bishopsgate Street. 1770's
Located on the east side of the street.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1880-1113-3920
Image below from the London Picture Archive - used with permission.
An anonymous amateur view from Bishopsgate Street of the church of St. Ethelburgh, and adjoining building of the Marine Society on the left with the Coade figure in situ, c.1810.
Just inside the gate on Bishopsgate Street was the church of
St. Ethelburga, which was built in the middle ages. St. Erkenwald, who, as
legend has it, rebuilt the Roman gate, was her brother (Smith 24). The church
in her name on Bishopsgate Street is the only church in England dedicated to
Erkenwald’s sister (Bebbington 48). Two other churches stood on Bishopsgate
Street, St. Helen and St. Botolph, Aldgate.
...........................
Marine Society House Bishopsgate c 1840.
Thomas Homer Shepherd
Where is the statue??
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1131342/engraving/
.................................
............................
Of Tangential Interest.
Trade card of Isaac Smith Graves who occupied the grounf floor of 54 Bishopsgate Street in the 1780's - 90's.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-28-81
Graves was initially in partnership with a Mr Shipman and
until 1784 and traded as Graves & Shipman. After this he traded on his sole
account. The number in Bishopsgate was initially 54 but c. 1790 changed to 56.
The Marine Society Bishopsgate Chimneypiece.
Currently with Wick Antiques.
Detailed minutes of the weekly Committee meetings describe the furnishing of the Society’s new Committee Room, including ‘a carved chimneypiece’, ‘the cost not to exceed £36’. The final sum paid to a Mr Tousey (Mr Touzey) was £30. 15s. 6d.
This was probably the Huguenot carver and gilder John
Tousey, or Touzey, of The Golden Head, Bow Street (1763-1781)
Dimensions: Height: 93 inches (236cm) Width: 92 ½ inches (235cm) Depth: 25 inches (33cm).
see - Bosanquet, Henry T. A., The Marine Society, A Catalogue of the Pictures and other Works of Art, 1905, p. 14.
The following notes from -
John Tousey, The Golden Head, Wardour St, London by
1749-1750 or later, Sarah Touzey, The Golden Head, Bow St, Bloomsbury 1755,
John Tousey, The Golden Head, Bow St by 1763-1781. Carvers and gilders.
John Tousey, or Touzey, was listed as a carver in the 1749
Westminster election poll book. He took out insurance with the Sun Fire Office
at the Golden Head, opposite Broad St in Wardour St in November 1750. John
Tousey’s brother, Jacob, took Gideon Saint as apprentice in September 1743
(DEFM). It is also worth noting that a ‘John Tousey’ became a member of the
Royal Society of Musicians in 1740.
Sarah Touzey, perhaps his wife or widow, took out insurance
from the Golden Head in Bow St in 1755. Together with her son, she took over an
apprentice from a fellow Huguenot, James Lewis Guillet , John Lemaitre, for
a further two years in 1758. She may perhaps be Sarah Le Touzey who died in
1762 leaving a will dated 18 September and proved 8 November 1762 in which her
sons, Jacob and John Le Touzey were mentioned. Jacob Touzey described his
brother John Touzey as a carpenter and gilder, leaving everything to him,
including his prize money in his will, made 8 April and proved 11 July 1764,
made from one of his majesty’s ships in Jamaica.
It may be that the John Touzey who took out insurance from
Sarah Touzey’s address in 1764 and 1765 was her son. John Tousey married
Anchonte Hewer at St George Bloomsbury in May 1762 and had two children, John
and Frances, christened at this church in 1764 and 1768 respectively. He took
apprentices James Wood for a premium of 5s in 1762, James Scott for £30 in
1764, Thomas Gibbons for 5s in 1765 and James Weale for £5 in 1770.
Touzey was listed in Bow St in Kent’s directory in 1780 as a
cabinet maker, upholsterer and dealer in plate glass, and he was recorded as
‘Towsey’ in Bow St in a list of furniture makers compiled by the Duchess of
Northumberland, c.1776 (Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas
Chippendale, 1978, p.154). John Touzey advertised in 1781 that he was retiring
from trade, offering his ‘Remaining Stock and Utensils in Trade, collection of
valuable Pictures, Prints, Drawings, Professional Designs, &c’, describing
himself as ‘Carver, Upholder, Cabinet-maker, and Dealer in Plate Glass’
(Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser 4 April 1781).
‘Touzey’ made frames and a pier glass for Edward Knight,
Kidderminster, 1765-9 (Penny 1986 p.813). He worked on some 36 paintings for
Lord Coventry, 1766-8, at a cost of £43. Descriptions such as 'Touzets bubble'
appear in the account books of John Smith (qv) from 1812, if not referring to
John Tousey, then leaving open the possibility that there was another craftsmen
of this name at work in the early 19th century who was used by Smith for
composition ornaments for his picture frames. There was a Henry Tousey, carver
and gilder at 10 Silver St, Golden Square, who took out insurance in 1781.
.................................
A late George II carved mahogany architectural bookcase
circa 1760
Property from the collection of Marine Society & Sea
Cadets, sold to benefit Seafarers and Sea Cadets.
Note - This almost certainly refers to Richard Parker of the Strand -
see - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/03/charles-harris-of-strand-plaster-casting.html
see also - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2014/01/asummary-of-researches-into-bust-of.html
Theodore Parker and his son Richard Parker of the Strand - Richard's partner from 1776 was Charles Harris (d. 1795).
Parker was made bankrupt in 1776
The partnership did not last long and a catalogue of Harris' stock was published in 1777.
Above a central bevelled glazed door flanked by fluted pilasters capped with composition capitals on plinths inset with two classical plaster plaques depicting on the right hang side a Grecian cupid, on the left a figure representing Piety sacrificing at an altar, flanked by two further glazed doors, enclosing three removeable satin lined and faux marble painted niches, the central niche with a white painted plaster figure of Thomas Hanway, circa 1774, flanked by white painted plaster Allegories of Charity and Hope, circa 1774, after models by Peter Scheemakers (1691-1781) on ebonised wood bases with faded inscriptions, with shelves below the lower section of the central door enclosing an engraving recounting the life of Thomas Hanway, the left and right hand door with engravings by Pierre Imbert Drevet (1697-1739) depicting the sacrifice of Abraham, after Coypel, and The Agony in the Garden, the lower section quarter-veneered with a central sliding panel and flanked by two cupboard doors, on a plinth with leaf-carving and three conforming quarter-veneered tablets, together with a contemporary manuscript describing the mausoleum in detail in a fine Hanway gilt-vellum binding
The bookcase 246cm. high, 211cm. wide, 49.5cm. deep; 8ft.
1in., 6ft. 11in., 1ft. 7 1/2 in.
Sotheby's Condition report -
According to the accompanying manuscript which describes the contents, the mausoleum is now lacking the allegorical figure of Contentment originally positioned between the triangular pediment and two separate sun-burst brackets which also displayed other figures.
The remaining plaster figures have been re-decorated at some stage and have typical old marks, chips and scratches and the figure of Prudence with repaired break to arm holding a looking glass.
There is also rubbing and ingrained dirt to the later surface. The two side statues with detachable ebonised plinths with inset vellum panels with faded inscriptions that are detailed in the aforementioned manuscript. The silk lined removeable niches - for use as a bookcase - have fraying and show typical signs of historic wear and discolouration. The prints (lacking margins) are also removeable and laid on a silk ground which is painted, this surface is discoloured and stained. The inset plaques of cupid and piety were possibly added in 1774 , and is possible the beveled glazing was also added at this point. The 'Hanway' binding is a fine example of a rare type.
...........................
of tangential interest -
Engraving of 1774
"Painted by E. Edwards", "Engraved by John Hall" and publication line: "Publish'd as the Act directs April 20th. 1774", and at lower edge of plate in scratched letters: "Sold by J. Boydell N [blank] Cheapside and J Bell No. 132 Strand/Printed by Hoguet 1774"
Britannia seated at the foot of a statue of charity
inscribed 'Marine Society', as a woman at left brings two poor children towards
her, and members Jonas Hanway, John Thornton and William Hickes stand at right
with another boy, Hickes holding an 'act of incorporation'; boats on the sea
behind; after Edward Edwards. 1774
Lettered below image with dedication over four lines to the
British Nation and to the memory of William Wickes Esqr., Merchant of Hamburg
who legacy supported the Marine Society, continuing with a note on the society,
and a note on the sculpture, presented by Thomas Nash Esqr. of London and
standing on the South Side of the Royal Exchange, with production detail:
"Painted by E. Edwards", "Engraved by John Hall" and
publication line: "Publish'd as the Act directs April 20th. 1774",
and at lower edge of plate in scratched letters: "Sold by J. Boydell N
[blank] Cheapside and J Bell No. 132 Strand/Printed by Hoguet 1774"; the
names of the sitters at right inscribed in pencil below platemark.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1850-1214-215
Frontispiece to Jonas Hanway's 'Rules and Regulations of the Maritime School on the Banks of the Thames, near London. Instituted in MDCCLXXVII. with a view to qualify scholars to serve as officers in the Royal Navy. Preferring the Sons of Sea-Officers for the greater part' (London, 1781); a mother seated at steps, talking to her young son who stands on the right by an urn containing the ashes of her dead naval husband lettered: "M[..]CAR[...]" with the St George's flag behind. 1781.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-3010
...................................
Miss Eleanor Coade Sculptor Exhibiting at the Society of Artists.
see - The Society of artists of Great Britain, 1760-1791; the Free society of artists, 1761-1783 ; a complete dictionary of contributors and their work from the foundation of the societies to 1791, by Algernon Graves.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t9186p87v&view=1up&seq=80
Her address given as Artificial Stone Manufactory, King's-Arms Stairs,Lambeth.
1773- 59 A figure of Urania, for a sundial.
1774 -53 A chimney piece, in artificial stone, for a nobleman's hall. From a design of Mr. Johnson's
1774.
54 A vestal and pedestal; in artificial stone.
55 A sybil; in artificial stone.
367 - A statue and pedestal for a candalabrum.
368 - A tripod.
1775 -
385 - A Flora; in artificial stone.
386 - A Pomona.
387 A Candalabrum.
388 - A Tripod and Pedestal.
1776.
193 - A Naiade.
194 - Three statues for Candalabrums.
196 - Phrygian Boy and Girl; a Tablet.
197 Boy and Dolphin.
1777.
181 -A Vase, after the Antique, in the Villa de
Medicis.
182 - A Lion.
183 - Hymen and Psyche; two figures for Candalabrums.
184 - A statue of Flora.
185 do. Pomona.
186 do. Minerva.
187 do. a Sybil.
1778.
284 - Charity; in artificial stone.
2S5 - A Lion; do.
286 - A Group of Figures; executed for the Marine Society.
287 - A Figure for Candalabrum.
288 - A Vase, intended for a monumental inscription.
289 - A Pedestal, from a design of James Paine, Esq., intended for a sundial.
1780.
47 - Statue of Time; in artificial stone.
48 - A clock case.
.....................................
of Tangential Interest
John Bacon Exhibited at the Free Society of Artists 1762 - 1764and later exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1768
1762. Free Society of Artists - His address given as At Mrs. Knights, St. Thomas's, Southwark.
172. Model in clay; Interview be- tween Coriolanus and Volumnia.
1763.
2 Marc Antony; a model in altorelievo.
3 Cleopatra; a model in alto- relievo.
1764. 219 A model; in clay.
1768 Exhibits at the Society of Artists - His address is given as Mr Tucker of Cox's Square Spitalfields.
197. A Bacchanalian; a model.
William Tucker was a Cabinet Maker see - https://bifmo.furniturehistorysociety.org/entry/street-william-1768
1768.
Notes The Free Society of Artists (1761 - 83).
The Society of Artists arose from proposals to establish an academy and annual exhibition of contemporary British art during the 1750s.
Unable to obtain royal or parliamentary support the majority of leading
painters, led by those associated with the Foundling Hospital, decided to
organize an exhibition themselves in the rooms of the Society of Arts in 1760.
Disagreements with the Council of the Society of Arts, particularly over
admission fees and the hanging of works, resulted in the principal painters finding
an alternative venue, in Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, in 1761.
However the Society of Arts continued to hold annual exhibitions and those artists who remained with them, the majority of whom were lesser painters, formed themselves into the Free Society of Artists in 1762.
The Spring Gardens faction, led by Francis Hayman, now adopted the title
Society of Artists and were incorporated as such, by royal charter, in 1765.
Leading members seceded from the society in 1768, a move leading directly to
the formation of the Royal Academy of Arts. The Free Society of Artists was
dissolved in 1783.
