Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson (1853–1937) 1913
Leonard Stanford Merrifield (1880–1943)
Royal Shakespeare Company Collection
Leonard Stanford Merrifield [also known as L. S. Merrifield, and as Leonard S. Merrifield] was born in Wyck Rissington, Gloucestershire, England on 14 April 1880. After training as a stone carver, he studied at Cheltenham School of Art; the City & Guilds of London School of Art; and at the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he was awarded a first prize of £30 for a model of a design in 1903, and the Landseer Scholarship for sculpture, in 1904, and the Armitage bronze medal. Merrifield subsequently worked as a sculptor. He mainly produced portrait statues and busts; statuettes; and memorials. He also designed medals. He began exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London in 1906 and continued to do so virtually every year until 1943. He also exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Society of Portrait Painters and Royal Miniature Society in London; Royal Glasgow Institute of of the Fine Arts; Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh; Royal West of England Academy in Bristol; the Aberdeen Artists Society; and at the Paris Salon.
Merrifield was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors (RBS) in 1909; a an Associate of the Royal Society of British Sculptors (ARBS)in 1923; a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors (FRBS) in 1926; an Associate of the Royal Society of British Artists (ARBA) in 1919; a full member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) in 1921; an Associate of the Royal Miniature Society (ARMS) in 1922; a full member of the Royal Miniature Society (RMS) in 1924; a member of the Art Workers Guild in 1922; and an honorary member of the South Wales Art Society in 1931. He was also a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.
Following World War One, Merrifield was commissioned to design a number of war memorials or statuary for war memorials, including for Burnham in Buckinghamshire (1920); Newlyn in Cornwall (1920); the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry at Bodmin, Cornwall (1922-24); Stafford in Staffordshire (1923); Comber, Co. Down (1923); Lurgan, Co. Armagh (1928); and Merthyr Tydfi in Wales; (1931).
Other notable included a marble bust of Alderman David Jones for Cardiff Town (now City) Hall (1909); a marble bust of Robert Drane (1910); a marble statue of William Williams Pantycelyn for or Cardiff Town (now City) Hall (1916); the first aid medal in silver for Glamorgan County Council (1918); a bronze statue of Hedd Wyn (1923); a memorial statue of Charles Frohman with drinking fountain for Marlow, Buckinghamshire (1924) a bronze statue of Richard Trevithick for Cambourne in Cornwall (1928); the Challenge trophy for the Honourable Artillery - equestrian statuette in silver (1928); portrait bust of Lord Curzon of Duncairn (1931); and a bronze statue of Edward Carson for the Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast (1933).
During World War Two, Merrifield served as an Air Raid Warden in London.
Throughout out his career, Merrifield lived and worked in London. He died in London on 25 April 1943. At the time of his death he was working on a statue of Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith.
Text source: Arts + Architecture Profiles from Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/
