Sculptor, draughtsman, printmaker, letter-cutter, illustrator and teacher, born in Buckinghamshire, son of the Manchester-born architect R M Manby and the painter Judith Da Fano. He was married to the painter Lee Mackay, their daughter being the artist Jo Manby. He trained under Eric Schilsky at Edinburgh College of Art, 1960–6, was an Andrew Grant Scholar and post-diploma scholar, and gained his master’s degree in architectural history at Keele University, 1989–91. Manby was based in Staffordshire from 1967, when he was appointed to teach sculpture at Stoke College of Art. He left in 1972 to work as a freelance artist and with his wife created Forge Farm Studio at Wootton, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, partly as a showroom. There was a Manby family show, Floribunda, there in 2004.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
