Robert William Sievier


Robert William Sievier FRS was a notable British engraver, sculptor and later inventor of the 19th century.

Engraver and sculptor

Sievier showed an early talent for drawing, and studied under John Young and Edward Scriven, before attending the Royal Academy Schools from 1818. His speciality was portrait engravings, though he also did other works, including subjects from William Etty. By 1823, however, he had abandoned engraving for sculpture. His sculpture portrait subjects included Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Sir Thomas Lawrence. His students included William F Woodington and Musgrave Watson.
Sievier exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1822 until 1844, and his output there included several busts, figure subjects, gravestones and monuments. His first studio was in London's Southampton Row; in 1837, he relocated to Henrietta Street, near Cavendish Square, and he had a separate residence in Upper Holloway.

Other works

In 1837 he came third in the competition to design a monument to Nelson in Trafalgar Square, with a proposal devised jointly with the architect Charles Fowler.

Inventor

In 1836, Sievier patented a process for rubberising fabrics and formed a ‘patent’ company. The company became large-scale manufacturers of elastic driving bands for machinery, rope for mines, waterproof cloths and garments, and waterproof canvas, as well the first rubber-insulated wire. His interests in manufacturing took over from the early 1840s onwards. Sievier's factory was situated close to his home, the Old Manor House, in Upper Holloway, at the south corner of Red Cap Lane. Sievier also carried out experiments in electrical telegraphy there. The house was demolished in 1897.
In Mar 1841 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He died in Kentish Town, London and is buried there in Kensal Green Cemetery.