A Liverpool Exemplar - Herbert Tyson Smith

pic courtesy of Chambre Hardman archive Liverpool

George Herbert Tyson Smith was an English sculptor and carver born in Liverpool on the 12th of January 1883, the eldest of four children and son of George H. Smith, an engraver and lithograph artist. He was the brother-in-law of fellow Liverpool sculptor Edward Carter Preston who designed the "Next of Kin Memorial Plaque" and the uncle of potter Julia Carter Preston. The 1891 census shows him as a scholar living at 23 Gainsborough Road, Toxteth, Liverpool and in the 1901 census he is shown as a marble mason, still residing at 23 Gainsborough Road. Tyson Smith attended the University's School of Architecture & Applied Arts where he studied modeling, carving and casting with one of his teachers being Charles John Allen whose Victoria Monument at Derby Square typifies what was termed 'New Sculpture'. George was taught drawing by Augustus John at the 'Art Sheds' when he attended evening classes there for several years around the turn of the century.. He was particularly interested in the early artistic works of Egypt and Greece. Working in a stonemason’s yard he was also was a member of Sandon Studios Society, of which he was president from 1956, and showed at Liverpool Autumn Exhibition from 1907. 

Is his finest in Birkenhead? The look of grief on the female figure carrying the victory wreath

Relief Panel, Martin’s Bank, Castle Street

 

Starting his own practice in 1912 he became noted for his work on the Birkenhead Cenotaph, Fleetwood War Memorial and Liverpool War Memorial. In the First World War he served in the Royal Flying Corps and set up his first studio in 1919 when he returned from war service before moving into a larger studio in the Bluecoat Chambers whilst living at 169 Grove Street ( at the top of Myrtle Street). He also designed medals and was made an honorary instructor to the School of Architecture in 1925 and gained an honorary Master of Arts degree from Liverpool University in 1948. His work is mostly in a neo-classical style and is shown in the volume RBS: Modern British Sculpture, published in 1939. Amongst his glorious creations (he worked almost exclusively upon Merseyside commissions) are the serene Liver Birds and miscellaneous maritime motifs - including walrus heads - work in Portland Stone upon the Martins Bank Building on Water Street, and the marching soldiers and gathered mourners in bronze either side of the Cenotaph on St George's Plateau.( Smith himself is one of the mourners with trilby in hand ).

Two sides of the the stunning cenotaph in St George’s Place

Featured in the Walker Art Gallery show 'The Art Sheds', in 1981 and many years after his death, George Herbert Tyson Smith is never too far from the city's headlines. His Post Office War Memorial, originally unveiled in 1924, was recently reinstalled inside the foyer of the former GPO on Victoria Street, now reincarnated as the Met Quarter shopping centre. Those fabulous carvings - dolphins, starfish, seahorses, octopuses, lobsters, scallop shells, mermen, tridents and compasses - all over Spinney House on Church Street are his, ultimately vacated by Littlewoods for whom it was purpose-built half-a-century ago, and historically important as the last major building in Liverpool to incorporate decorative sculpture. But his hand, or rather his engraved Roman-script lettering, is everywhere in Liverpool, from the façade of the Cunard Building, Lewis's and the Western Approaches Museum to commemorative plaques, tablets and foundation stones - his bread-and-butter work for over 50 years - on churches, cemeteries, hospitals, schools, colleges, museums and public statues.

He lived through two world wars and inscribed the names of hundreds of their Liverpudlian victims on memorials. Until his death in 1972 he remained the dominant figure in local sculpture, based for much of his career at the Bluecoat Chambers and cutting a familiar dash for many years in his trademark trilby hat and bow tie. Herbert died, aged 89 years, on the 10th of February 1972 and was buried on the 17th of February 1972 in a family grave in Allerton Cemetery, Woolton Rd, Allerton. Both the burial register and probate records confirm that his address had been 2 Caroline Place, Birkenhead.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/11/a-liverpool-exemplar-sir-william-brown.html