Bishop Lloyd's effigy by Frederick W. Pomeroy. 1908. Alabaster. As Benedict Read has noted: "The other major area of work for sculptors, besides portraiture, was funerary monuments" (186), and Pomeroy did his share of both. The intricately carved tomb-chest and canopy are set into the choir screen of the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, and were executed by Oliver & Leeson, an important building firm in Edwardian Newcastle (see Grundy et al., 114, 422).
Left: The pair of angels at the Bishop's feet. Right: The tomb from the other side.
Arthur Thomas Lloyd (1844-1907) was not a northerner, but the north took him to its heart. He was born in Berkshire, serving as Vicar of Aylesbury before coming to Newcastle, and becoming (according to the information plaque in St Nicholas) "the first Vicar of Newcastle to become Provost of this Cathedral in 1882." He then served as a Suffragan (or assistant) Bishop in Norwich before returning to Newcastle in 1903 as its third Bishop. The Bishop's mitre can just be seen above the effigy's head in the right-hand corner of the monument. When he died unexpectedly at the age of 63, people thronged to the funeral, "reflecting his reputation as a good, modest and sincere man whose love for Newcastle was returned” by its people" ("Bishop of Newcastle"). His actual grave is at St James' Church, Benwell, where he lived in the bishop's residence, because he had wished to be buried as a commoner. But, after all, he was not allowed to depart from the world without this splendid work being raised in his memory.
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Photographs and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. The images may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL or cite it in a print document. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
"Bishop of Newcastle rededicates predecessor's restored grave." The Church of England in the Diocese of Newcastle. Web. 11 July 2014.
Grundy, John, et. al. (including of course Nikolaus Pevsner). The Buildings of England: Northumberland. 2nd (revised) ed. London: Penguin, 1992.
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982.
Last modified 11 July 2014