Sometimes the story behind a comprehensive headstone inscription can still take a bit of unravelling. Take the one on Arabella Dunbar’s grave.
In loving memory of
Arabella
Widow of the late
David Dunbar
Sculptor
(of London)
Who died December 27th 1885
At New Swindon
Aged 77 years
Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty;
They shall behold the land that is very far off.
Isaiah 33
So, how did it happen that the widow of a celebrated Scottish born sculptor end up buried in Radnor Street Cemetery?
Arabella Riddiford was born in Uley, Gloucestershire, the daughter of Daniel and Susanna Riddiford and was baptised at the parish church on January 8, 1809. Little is know about her life before she married David Dunbar and even this evidence is confusing.
David Dunbar was born in 1793 in Scotland but when he married Arabella (his second wife) the details on their marriage entry are at variance with the other known facts. The couple were married at All Souls Church, St. Marylebone (where they are both described as living in the district) on July 15, 1844. David Dunbar describes himself as a widower and sculptor aged 28, the son of Stewart Dunbar a [stone] mason. Arabella Riddiford was also aged 28 a spinster the daughter of Daniel Riddiford Tea Grocer (deceased). Now by my reckoning David was at least 51 years old and Arabella 35.
At the time of the 1851 census the couple were living at David’s home, 9 Ranelagh Place and again the ages recorded are incompatible with other records.
The couple are difficult to locate on the 1861 census. They may have been living in Scotland at the time, where David died in Dumfries in 1866.
A lengthy obituary was published in national newspapers in both England and Scotland. (See examples below). His life’s work was obviously more important than his private life as there is no mention of a widow or any surviving children, however there appears to have been at least one son, David Dunbar Jnr who turns up in Swindon.
On June 25, 1849 David Dunbar a bachelor of full age (that is over 21) occupation Draper, address Ranelagh Place, father David Dunbar Sculptor, married Eleanor Cogdon at St. Peter’s Church, Eaton Square, Pimlico. The two witnesses to the marriage were John Cogdon (presumably Eleanor’s father) and Arabella Dunbar (presumably David’s mother).
Later that year there is a Notice of Indenture of Assignment published in The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, Tuesday, January 3, 1850 (see below) which names David Dunbar, Linen and Woollen Draper of Swindon and David Dunbar, Sculptor. All this adds weight to why Arabella ended up in Swindon where she died. Or does it?
The clue to this mystery is Charles Thomas, a 5 year old boy who is visiting Arabella at the time of the 1871 census when she lived in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire.
Charles Riddiford Thomas was the son of William Thomas, a beerhouse keeper, and his wife Arabella, who lived in Swindon. The couple had married at Christ Church on September 30, 1854 where we discover that Arabella’s maiden name was Riddiford and that she was the daughter of Charles Riddiford. Charles Riddiford was born in Uley, Gloucestershire the son of Daniel & Susanna Riddiford and was therefore Arabella Dunbar’s brother.
At last the connection is made between Arabella Dunbar, widow of a famous sculptor, and why she ended up buried in Radnor Street Cemetery. She was living in Swindon with her niece Arabella at the time of her death.
The entry in the burial registers record that Arabella was living at 6 High Street, New Swindon in 1885, (before it was renamed Emlyn Square). Her funeral took place on December 30, 1885 and she lies in plot A1039. The inscription on her headstone says it all, well nearly!
The facts …
The Late Mr David Dunbar, Sculptor
It is with deep regret we record the death of this genial and talented gentleman, which sad event took place here on Sabbath morning last, after a very short illness. We cannot allow so eminent a fellow-townsman to pass away without some tribute to his memory, and record of his active life.
While serving his apprenticeship as a stone-mason with his father, he shewed symptoms of that taste for sculpture which ultimately led to the adoption of that art as his profession. So great was his reputation as an ornamental carver among the building trade that he obtained an engagement in his seventeenth year to execute the capitals and other decorative parts of Lowther Castle, then in course of erection, at a wage of 7s per day. After following for a few years this, the lightest and most elegant part of the masons’ trade, he had his early aspirations of seeing Rome and studying in Italy realised through the kindness of some friends who had long watched with sympathetic interest the budding genius of the embryo sculptor.
During his sojourn in the “land of poetry and song,” he diligently pursued his studies in the fine arts, and on the eve of his return to England the Royal Academy of Cararra elected him a member of their body in recognition of his artistic genius – his “diploma study” being the “Sleeping Child,” a charming work, which long adorned the vestibule of St Michael’s, calling forth the admiration of countless visitors.
On his return to this country, he entered the studio of Sir Francis Chantry, where, during a number of years, his services were of great importance to that distinguished sculptor. Upon leaving London, he began business on his own account in Newcastle on Tyne, and during a lengthened residence there executed many works of great excellence. It was at this period he carried out a series of “Fine Art Exhibitions,” two of which were held at Dumfries, and contributed to the development of a taste for the plastic arts that was then arising among the people. Carlisle, too, was much indebted to Mr Dunbar for a healthy stimulus it received in favour of popular education; and so marked were his services in connection with the foundation of a Mechanics’ Institute in that city, that the principal inhabitants presented him with a substantial token of their gratitude and esteem.
During the last few years of his career he found employment for his chisel in various parts of the country, and it was while engaged upon some classic work in Edinburgh, that he took a journey to his native town for change of air and relaxation, of which he stood in much need: it was his last visit – he returned only to die – and his latest breath was drawn among the kindred he loved so well.
His best works are busts from the life; and some copies in marble, from the antique, one of which we lately saw in Carlisle (which was executed nearly half a century ago), and was to our enamoured sense truly a thing of beauty. He was honoured with sittings from Earl Grey, Lord Brougham, Lord Durham, and other eminent statesmen; and he executed a much admired bust of Grace Darling, which was several times reproduced in marble for the Bishop of Durham and other admirers of the heroine. The statue of Sir Pulteney Malcolm at Langholm, also by the deceased artist, is a fine memento of his genius and skill.
Mr Dunbar was full of emotional warmth, generous, and benevolent. He had a rich fund of anecdote and humour, and great stores of general information, from which he could draw at pleasure to delight the social circle. On all these accounts the announcement of his demise will be received with deep regret by numerous friends in Dumfries and other parts of the kingdom.
Dumfries and Galloway Standard and Advertiser, August 15, 1866.
Dunbar’s bust of Elizabeth Stephens, better known as Mrs Gaskell, author of Cranford, Mary Barton & North and South.
Notice is hereby given, that by Indenture of Assignment bearing date the 24th day of December, 1849 David Dunbar, of Swindon, in the Country of Wilts, ‘Linen and Woollen Draper, (trading under the firm of Dunbar and Company) assigned all his Estate and Effects unto William Ford, of No. 282, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Line Draper, and David Dunbar of No 9, Ranelagh Place, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Sculptor, upon trust for the benefit of all the creditors of the said David Dunbar, of Swindon aforesaid, who should Execute the said Deed, as therein mentioned. And that the said Deed of Assignment was duly executed by the said David Dunbar, of Swindon aforesaid, on the said 24th day of December, 1849 by the said William Ford, on the 27th day of December, 1849, and by the said David Dunbar, of No. 9, Ranelagh Place aforesaid, on the 1st day of January, 1850, in the presence of and attested by Richard Marriott Freeman, of No. 4, Great James Street, Bedford Row, in the County of Middlesex, Attorney at Law, at whose office the said Deed of Assignment now lies for execution by the Creditors. – Dated this 2nd day of January, 1850
R.M. Freeman, Solicitor to the Trustees,
4 Great James Street, Bedford Row.
The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, Tuesday, January 3, 1850.
The Katherine Losh mausoleum in the church at Wreay, Cumbria. Katherine was the sister of Sarah Losh, architect and designer.
David Dunbar, sculptor 1797-1866
When the opportunity arose in February, 1845, for carving the most prestigious statue in Victorian Cumberland, David Dunbar was staying at Woodside. He wrote to the committee offering to execute the statue of the Earl of Lonsdale in either bronze or marble. On discovering that his one-time pupil, Musgrave Lewthwaite Watson, was competing for the memorial, he wrote again offering ‘to resign any pretensions of mine in favour of that gentleman’. At Woodside he was probably engaged in sculpting the statue of Katharine Losh which was to be placed inside the mausoleum at Wreay. His hand would be guiding the chisel, but it would have been Sarah Losh’s imagination which was creating the image. He had once been an artist of rare ambition and considerable energy. David Dunbar had been born in Dumfries in 1793, the son of a stonemason. His father had taught him his craft, but he displayed an exceptional aptitude. At the age of seventeen he went to work on the building of Lowther Castle, one of the greatest building projects of the age. Paul Nixson, from Carlisle, employed him in carving the capitals which graced the inner court of this extravagant Gothic fantasy. Dunbar’s ambition took him to London where he married and became one of several assistants in the Pimlico workshop of Francis Chantrey, the most successful and accomplished sculptor of his day. There he acquired exceptional skills and began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. He left this promising situation to return to work for Paul Nixson in Carlisle in 1820. Nixson had a monumental workshop in Finkle Street, but offered little demanding work for the young sculptor beyond the carving of funeral monuments and marble fireplaces. However, Dunbar, Nixson and a young painter, Matthew Nutter, began The Carlisle Academy of the Arts. Their aspirations were embodied in the sculpture of the Genius of Carlisle which stood above the workshop entrance. Dunbar busied himself with carving the busts of local professionals and industrialists and occupied himself in educating the working men in the city and promoting a remarkable series of eight annual art exhibitions. In the small provincial city of Carlisle, Dunbar was showing works by the great masters from Titian to Rubens and Rembrandt and displaying plaster casts of sculptures from the antique and after Renaissance masters. He was also attracting exhibits from leading contemporaries throughout the country, including Edwin Landseer, John Varley, Frederick Watts, James Ward and members of the Norwich School, and from a school of proficient local artists. In 1826, he went on an extended tour of Italy, visiting the workshops of Thorwaldsen and Joseph Gott, among others, in Rome and being deeply impressed by the work of the late Canova in Possagno. On his return, he sought to extend his reputation. When he was refused entry to the Newcastle Exhibition because his statue of Musidora was considered indecent, he took the unprecedented step of staging a one-man exhibition in the city and then a second one in Durham. He found work among the liberal and radical community in the North-east. He sculpted the young Elizabeth Stephens, who in later years became the novelist Mrs Gaskell. He was also commissioned to make busts of Earl Grey and of James Losh, but the leading commissions did not come his way. His work lacked the individuality and imagination of Lewthwaite Watson. It was probably at this time, in 1832, that he carved busts of Sarah and Katharine Losh. Dunbar’s bust of James Losh was placed in the library of the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle, but it was also used as a model for John Graham Lough, then working in Rome, to create a full-length statue of Losh in a Roman toga. It was Lough’s work which took pride of place on the staircase of the society. In 1839, he sought money and reputation by making the first bust of Grace Darling and selling plaster casts of the popular heroine of the Islands. His work and his income declined. In his last years he was a peripatetic stonemason and carver, repairing the stonework on colleges and churches. He died visiting his home town in 1866. His most popular and admired work was an image of his infant daughter, Elizabeth, which he made shortly after her death in 1822. There is a copy in Carlisle Cathedral, but he was prepared to sell the original even after he had donated it to his home church in Dumfries. His statue of Katharine Losh was recreated from the image of the bust he had already created from the life, from Sarah’s drawing and from Sarah’s memories and imagining. He rendered in marble that sense of gentleness, of sweet compliance, that sense of love between two sisters so embracing and so essential to each that they never thought of being apart. In carving the statue of Katharine, David Dunbar was touched by an art more profound than he had known before.
David Dunbar was born in 1793. He was the son of Thomas Dunbar, Stonemason and his wife Janet Johnstone. David Dunbar married first Ann Stokes and second Arabella Riddiford. He died at Academy Street Dumfries on the 12 of August 1866. His nephew George Dunbar registered his death
Radnor Street Cemetery 