Robert Mawer (Nidderdale 1807 - Leeds 10 November 1854) was an architectural sculptor, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He specialised in the Gothic Revival and Neoclassical styles. He created the Neoclassical keystone heads on St George's Hall, Bradford and on Moorland's House, Leeds, and was working on the keystone heads at Leeds Town Hall when he died. He was a founding member of the Mawer Group of Leeds architectural sculptors, which included his wife, Catherine Mawer, his son Charles Mawer, and his apprentices William Ingle, Matthew Taylor and Benjamin Payler, who all became sculptors with their own careers. Many of the buildings enhanced with sculpture by Robert Mawer are now listed by Historic England.
Background Robert Mawer was born around 1807 in Nidderdale. Deaths Dec 1854 Mawer Robert Leeds vol9b p233. The certificate describes him as a stone carver. He was baptised at Middlesmoor in 1808, the son of William Mawer of Haden Carr which is now under Scar House Reservoir. The 1841 Census finds him living in New Huddersfield, Leeds.This was a small area between Holborn Terrace and Shay Street, in part of the area now known as Woodhouse Carr, Leeds. It was just north-east of St Mark's Church, in whose churchyard the Mawer Memorial now stands. See old OS map: National Library of Scotland: Yorkshire CCIII.13 (Leeds) surveyed 1888-1890 He is listed as a stonemason, and his name is misspelt "Mower". With him is his wife Catherine; both their ages are wrongly listed as 30 years. Also with him is their son Charles, aged 2 years, and Catherine's mother Elizabeth Scriven, aged 70 years.United Kingdom census, 1841 HO 107/1348/6 schedule 49, p.16. The surname is incorrectly transcribed as "Bower" in most indexes In the 1851 Census, Robert is aged 43 and living at 6a Oxford Place, Leeds, with his wife Catherine and son Charles. He describes himself as a master stone cutter employing four men.United Kingdom census, 1851: HO107/2321/124 p22: Oxford Place, Leeds
Career
If Mawer's apprenticeship as a stone carver was served between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one years as per tradition, he would have been qualified to work as a top sculptor from about 1828. It is not known where he served his apprenticeship, but since he was born in Nidderdale and married in Ripley, it is possible that he was apprenticed to a master stone carver at Ripon Cathedral where he could have gained the skills and knowledge that he used in all his works and taught to his apprentices. No documentary attributions for work have been found until 1837, so he was possibly working for another sculptor between 1828 and 1837. He was active as an architectural sculptor in the Gothic Revival and Neoclassical styles from at least 1837 until his death.See list of works below However he does not appear in trade directories until 1848.Robert Mawer does not appear in Leeds trade directories between 1830 and 1847Slaters Royal National Commercial Directory 1848 part II p1200: Mawer Robert, stone mason 5 Oxford PlaceCharlton & Archdeacon Leeds Directory 1849 p285: "Mawer Robert stone mason, 6 Oxford Place; also in their 1849–1850 editionLeeds Borough Directory 1851 p318: Robert Mower, stone mason & carver, 6 Oxford Place From an unknown date until 1842, Mawer was a partner in Collitt & Co, stonemasons of Leeds, with Hugh Collitt and George Hope.Leeds Times 28 May 1842 p.3: Partnerships dissolved. Yorkshire Gazette 28 May 1842 p.3: Partnerships dissolved. H. Collitt could be a misprint of Luke Collitt, stone mason, who appears in the 1842 White's Directory of Leeds & the Clothing District.Bell's New Weekly Messenger, Sunday 29 May 1842, p.3 col.5: Partnerships dissolved The Leeds Times described him in his obituary as follows: "One who was extensively known and much respected in this town. Mr Robert Mawer was a man eminent in his department as an architectural sculptor. The manner in which he acquitted himself in connection with the rebuilding of our beautiful Parish Church gave promise of his capabilities. As a "medieval sculptor" specimens of his work are to be seen in the numerous church screens, fonts and other forms of ecclesiastical decoration which he has executed in various parts of the kingdom. During the last few years of his life he devoted himself more to classic architecture, and his excellence in this department is evident in such buildings as St George's Hall, Bradford; The Leeds and Yorkshire Assurance Company's offices in Leeds; and the Unitarian Chapel, Leeds."Leeds Times, Saturday 18 November 1854 p5: The late Mr Mawer", and p.8: "Deaths"
Leeds Civic Trust arranged to unveil a blue plaque At the Henry Moore Institute on 11 July 2019, commemorating the work of Robert Mawer, Catherine Mawer and William Ingle. This plaque was to be affixed to Moorlands House, Albion Street, Leeds, at a later date.
Death
He died on 10 November 1854,Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 18 November 1854 p.8, col.6: Deaths of chronic bronchitis, aged 47 years, at Oxford Place. His nephew William Ingle, who was then living at 1 Oxford Row, Leeds, was in attendance. He is buried with his wife Catherine in the churchyard of St Mark's Church, Woodhouse, Leeds, where he is commemorated with a memorial carved by Catherine.See image of memorial: :File:Robert and Catherine Mawer gravestone 001.jpg
Works The other top sculptors in his stone yard, who contributed to work attributed to Robert, were his wife Catherine Mawer and his nephew William Ingle, who both continued to run the stone yard after Robert died. His young apprentices were his son Charles Mawer, and Charles' contemporaries Matthew Taylor and Benjamin Payler; all three later formed their own careers as top sculptors. His final works on buildings which were formally opened after his death, for example Leeds Town Hall, were attributed to his wife Catherine, who completed those works. The following list of works from 1837 until his death in 1854, is limited to those attributed to him by name, in contemporary newspapers and other documents, such as the attribution for work at St Paul, Manningham.
St Peter's, Leeds (Leeds Minster), 1837-1841
This is a Grade I listed building.Historic England: Parish church of St Peter, 1375046 The foundation stone of Leeds Minster, formerly St Peter's or Leeds parish church, was laid in 1837, and it was consecrated on 2 September 1841.Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 04 September 1841 p8: "Consecration of the new Parish Church of Leeds"Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 02 October 1841 p8: "Church consecration" It was designed by Robert Dennis Chantrell.Morning Post, Saturday 11 September 1841 p2: Consecration of the new Parish Church of Leeds" Robert Mawer executed the general carving of the building, and this work "gave promise of his capabilities." He also produced the memorial to Christopher Beckett, designed by John Dobson, and completed in February 1849. "The whole of the work is of the very best description, the utmost attention having been paid to detail, and the carving will bear comparison with any of the ancient models."Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 24 February 1849 p5: "Memorial of the late Christopher Beckett Esq."
In 1838, Chantrell's men found a Saxon cross in the church: "When the [previous] Parish Church was taken down, in 1838, the fragments of crosses found there (with the exception of the large [thirteen feet in height] cross taken to London by Mr Chantrell) were removed to the yard of Mr Mawer, stone sculptor, Leeds, from whose widow these valuable relics were obtained a few days since [in January 1857], by Mr Denny, for the Museum of the Philosophical Hall. These fragments lay upon the table during the meeting ..." (Leeds Intelligencer and Leeds Mercury 24 January 1857)Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 24 January 1857 p8: "Ancient crosses discovered in Leeds and its neighbourhood"Leeds Mercury, Saturday 24 January 1857 p6: "Ancient crosses discovered in Leeds and its neighbourhood" The cross taken away by Chantrell was rescued from his garden after he died in 1875, and was re-erected in Leeds parish church. Around 1838, Chantrell gave a lecture about the remaining fragments of crosses, which were then "carried away by cartloads" by the public. It appears that all or some of these were found in Mawer's stone yard that same year, and are now in Leeds City Museum.Yorkshire Indexers: The Leeds Cross There is another version of the story in which the stones found in Mawer's stoneyard were pieces of the cross which had been in Chantrell's garden. At least three pieces found at St Peter's, probably originally of the same cross, are in Leeds Museum, and some pieces have been lost.
Holy Trinity, Queen's Head (Queensbury), West End, Bradford, 1843−1845
This is a Grade II listed building in Queensbury, Bradford.Historic England: Church of the Holy Trinity 1314183Church of England: Queensbury: Holy Trinity, Queensbury It was designed by James Mallinson, and the foundation stone was laid on Monday 17 April 1843.Bradford Observer, Thursday 20 April 1843 p.5, col.3: Queen's HeadLeeds Mercury, Saturday 22 April 1843 p.7, col.3: "New church at Queen's Head" The building was consecrated on Friday 29 August 1845.Bradford Observer, Thursday 04 September 1845 p.6, col.1: "Consecration of Queen's Head Church
It has a "3-light east window with enriched clustered colonnettes, surmounted by well-carved angels, a beast and a bird ... 2-bay tower arcade with well carved life-sized angel in octofoiled opening over." and was restored in 1885 by T.H. and F. Healey. Mallinson and Healey were employing Mawer for their neo-gothic carving in the 1840s, but the authorship of these carvings is yet unconfirmed.
Church of St Paul and St Jude, Manningham, 1846−1848
This is a Grade II listed building.Historic England: Church of St Paul and St Jude, 1133216 The foundation stone of St Paul's was laid on 3 November 1846 in Manningham, Bradford,Bradford Observer, Thursday 05 November 1846 p8: "New church at Manningham. Laying the foundation stone"Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 07 November 1846 p7: "Laying the foundation stone" and the building was consecrated on 2 October 1848.Bradford Observer, Thursday 05 October 1848 p6: "Consecration of St Paul's Church, Manningham" The architects were Mallinson and Healey. When Mawer carved the label stops and corbels of the building in the form of heads, he and William Ingle were already "Mallinson and Healey's favourite stone masons". Mawer carved the original font and pulpit, however the pulpit was replaced in 1960 by one of oak, and the font has been painted in beige gloss.St Paul's Church, Manningham, Bradford: History of St Paul's Church
The Bradford Observer described the arcade in the nave, and the font, in 1848: "The drip stones or labels terminate in busts of various designs, and most admirably carved, the work of Mr Mawer, of Leeds, who also executed the font. These busts support banded shafts which bear the trusses of the roof... The font which stands near the second pier from the west on the south side of the nave, is of Early English design. It is circular and rests on five detached shafts. The bowl is arcaded, in the heads of which are evangelistic emblems (an eagle, emblem of St John; and ox, emblem of St Luke; a lion, symbol of St Mark; and a man, symbol of St Matthew), and heads. The cover is of oak, and ornamented with iron scroll work."Bradford Observer, Thursday 28 September 1848 p6: "Memorial of St Paul' Church, Manningham"Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 07 October 1848 p3: "Consecration of St Paul's Church, Manningham"
Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel, Leeds, 1847-1848