William Ingle


William Ingle was an architectural sculptor in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He specialised in delicately undercut bas relief and small stand-alone stone sculptures of natural and imaginary flora and fauna on churches and on civic, commercial and domestic buildings. He was apprenticed to his uncle Robert Mawer. After Mawer's death in 1854 he worked in partnership with his aunt Catherine Mawer and his cousin Charles Mawer in the company Mawer and Ingle. Notable works by Ingle exist on Leeds Town Hall, Endcliffe Hall, Sheffield and Moorlands House, Leeds. He sometimes exhibited gentle humour in his ecclesiastical work, such as faces peering through greenery, and mischievous humour on secular buildings, such as comic rabbits and frogs among foliage. He died of tuberculosis at age 41 years, having suffered the disease for two years.

Early life

William Ingle was the nephew of Robert and Catherine Mawer, and cousin of their son Charles Mawer. He was the eldest son of Robert Ingle, a corn miller at Render Mills, Bishop Thornton, and Elizabeth Ingle née Mawer, sister of the sculptor Robert Mawer. Robert Ingle and Elizabeth Mawer were married at Ripon Cathedral on 3 October 1825. They were both buried at Bishop Thornton. William Ingle was baptised on 30 June 1828 at Bishop Thornton, North Yorkshire.

Apprenticeship

Assuming the regular pattern of apprenticeship between the ages of 14 and 21 years, Ingle was apprenticed to Robert Mawer between about 1842 and 1849.

Family life and career

He married Ann Elizabeth Agar, daughter of Benjamin Agar, an estate agent, in 1852 at Leeds. In 1851, at age 22, he was living at a lodging house in Leeds, describing himself as a stone and wood carver. By 1861 he and his wife were living at 38 Portland Crescent, Leeds, and William described himself as a sculptor and stone carver in the Census that year. They had four children: Amelia Jane, Arthur Robert, Fred, and Ernest, all born in Leeds. Ernest was described in the 1871 Census as "deaf and dumb from birth."
Ingle was a member of the Mawer Group, a closely associated group of architectural sculptors working in Leeds in the 19th century. The group included Robert Mawer, Catherine Mawer, Charles Mawer, Benjamin Payler, Matthew Taylor, and Ingle himself. Unlike the other sculptors in this group, Ingle was never credited by personal name for his work, by contemporary newspapers and other documents; they always referred to the company Mawer and Ingle. He was employed as a sculptor by master sculptor Robert Mawer from about 1849 until Robert Mawer's death in 1854, when Ingle became a master sculptor himself. So long as Ingle was working from the Mawer stoneyard, it produced various carving styles including finely undercut natural vegetation, and natural and comical wildlife and mythical animals. After he died, such natural, realistic elements were no longer produced in the same delicate style, so it is reasonable to suppose that this was Ingle's work. Ingle superintended the stone yard and onsite works under the management of Catherine Mawer after Robert Mawer's death, then became a partner in the firm of Mawer & Ingle.
Leeds Civic Trust arranged to unveil two blue plaques At the Henry Moore Institute on 11 July 2019, commemorating the work of Robert Mawer, Catherine Mawer and William Ingle, besides the Mawer Group as a whole. This plaques were to be affixed to Moorlands House, Albion Street, and 30 Park Place, both in Leeds, at a later date.

Death

William Ingle died aged 41 years on 26 March 1870, at 73 Portland Crescent, Leeds. He had had tuberculosis for two years. His mother in law Ann Agar was present at his death.

Blue plaque in Leeds

At the Henry Moore Institute on 11 July 2019, Leeds Civic Trust unveiled two blue plaques in recognition of the Mawer Group. One of them commemorates the work of William Ingle on 30 Park Place, Leeds. It was scheduled to be affixed to the building at a later date.

Works for Robert Mawer