Matthew Noble

Matthew Noble was born in Hackness near Scarborough, the son of a stonemason.  As a young man he left Yorkshire for London where he studied under John Francis.  From 1845 until his death he was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and gained particular public recognition after winning a competition for the Wellington Monument in Manchester in 1856.

He produced much public monumental sculpture, a variety of church monuments and ornamental panels (such as those in the Newcastle Science and engineering museum) and figures (such as the statues along the Burlington Gardens façade of the Royal Academy).  He sculpted many of the great figures of his day and in some cases his work reached a wider audience when it was copied in miniature in the Parian ware produced by Copeland.

Noble was said to have been a very kind person and a good friend.