Edward Hodges Baily

Infobox Artist
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name = Edward Hodges Baily


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birthname =
birthdate = March 10, 1788
location = Bristol
deathdate = May 22, 1867
deathplace = London
nationality = British
field = Sculpture
training =
movement =
works = Nelson's Column,
patrons =
influenced by =John Flaxman
influenced =Musgrave Watson
awards = FRS, Turner Gold Medal

Edward Hodges Baily RA FRS (March 10, 1788 - May 22, 1867) - (sometimes misspelled "Bailey") was an English sculptor who was born in Bristol. Some of his descendants still live in Bristol today and a sculpture of 'Eve at the Fountain' can be found in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.

His father, who was a celebrated carver of figureheads for ships, destined him for a commercial life, but even at school the boy showed his natural taste and talents by producing numerous wax models and busts of his schoolfellows. At the age of fourteen Baily was placed in a mercantile house, where he worked for the next two years, though he still felt a strong leaning towards his artistic abilities. [Gunnis, Rupert; "Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851", The Abbey Libarary pg32] At the age of sixteen he abandoned his commercial career and began executing portraits in wax. Two Homeric studies, executed for a friend, were shown to John Flaxman, who bestowed on them such high commendation that in 1807 Baily came to London and placed himself as a pupil under the great sculptor. In 1809 he entered the Royal Academy Schools.

. In 1857, the year of his retirement from the Royal Academy, he also designed a "Turner Gold Medal" for Landscape Painting.

Baily's election as a fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) came in 1842. Amongst his pupils was William Theed (1804-1891), a leading Victorian sculptor who produced a number of portrait busts and the large group sculpture ‘’Africa’’ for the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. Among Baily's assistants were Musgrave Watson (1804-1847) and Joseph Durham ARA (1814-1877).

Financial insecurity was a recurring theme in his life. He was first declared bankrupt in 1831, and again in 1838. On the first occasion questions were asked in Parliament on his behalf because his financial distress had resulted from delays in receiving payment for sculptures at Buckingham Palace. Fortunately his appeals to the Royal Academy for financial assistance, were successful in the 1830s, as again in the 1860s, when they provided him with a pension of £200 a year as an honorary retired RA.

Amongst Baily's many busts and statues of scientific, religious and literary figures (mostly from the Victorian period but some from earlier periods) are following :
[
Isaac Watts at Abney Park, Stoke Newington]
* Charles James Fox & Lord Mansfield - "St.Stephen's Hall, Westminster, London"
* Lord Byron - "Harrow School; and Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire"
* Michael Faraday - "University Museum, Oxford"
* Dr Isaac Watts - "Dr Watts' Walk, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, London"
* Sir Robert Peel - "Market Place, Bury"
* Horatio, Viscount Nelson - "on Railton's column, Trafalgar Square"
* Philip John Miles - "Holy Trinity, Abbots Leigh"
* Richard Owen - "Royal College of Surgeons"
* Sir John Herschel - "St. John's College, Cambridge"
* Thomas Bewick - "Literary & Philosophical Society, Newcastle upon Tyne"
* Sir James Knott - "as above"
* George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont - "St.Mary's, Petworth, Sussex"
* Charles, 2nd Earl Grey - "Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne"
* Eve at the Fountain - "Art Gallery, Cambridge"
* Eve at the Fountain - Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
* Governor Richard Bourke - "State Library of New South Wales, Sydney"
* Athena - "The Athenaeum Club, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, London"
* Sir Thomas Picton - "Carmarthen, Wales"
* Chief Justice Tindal - "Tindal Square, Chelmsford, Essex"
* Sir Charles Metcalfe - "Kingston, Jamaica"
* Thomas Fleming - "Manchester Cathedral"
* Justice - Old Council House, Bristol

Baily died at 99 Devonshire Road, Holloway on 22 May 1867 and is buried in London's Highgate Cemetery.

References