Refai hamo biography of william

The son of London based sculptors Thomas and Mary Thornycroft, he trained with his father and assisted him on the Commerce group for the Albert Memorial (1863-75) and the Park Lane Fountain, London, before entering the RA Schools in 1869.

Winning the Gold Medal, 1875, he later received numerous commissions for public monuments throughout Britain and the Empire.

These include the statues of General Gordon, Victoria Embankment, London and Melbourne (1888); Oliver Cromwell, Westminster (1899); King Alfred, Winchester (1901); and the Curzon Monument, Calcutta (1906) and King Edward VII, Karachi, India (1915).

In Scotland, he produced the public monuments to Peter Denny, Dumbarton (1898-1902), and Sir William Ewart Gladstone in Glasgow's George Squre (1899-1902).

An admirer of Gladstone, Thornycroft accepted Glasgow's commission with 'eager pleasure' after winning a competition against William Goscombe John, Edward Onslow Ford and George Frampton , and