Sculptor, Engineer. He was an English sculptor of the 19th century. Born the eldest son of John Thornycroft, a farmer, he was educated at Congleton Grammar School and then briefly apprenticed to a surgeon, learning anatomy. He moved to London where he spent four years as a student of the sculptor John Francis. On February 29, 1840, he married Francis' daughter, Mary, who received much acclaim for her sculptures of the children of Queen Victoria. Through their careers, his wife's strong points were purchasing and marketing, where as his was more engineering with a deep interest in mechanical projects, especially the technical side of casting. Though they could not be considered wealthy, they were financially comfortable. The couple had six children surviving to adulthood, with four being artistic. His daughter Alyce became a painter as well as a well-known sculptor. His daughters Helen and Theresa Georgina became painters, and a son, Sir William Hamo Thornycroft, excelled as a sculptor. Theresa's son became poet Siegfried Sassoon. His son John Isaac Thornycroft became a naval architect. In his later years, he assisted his son, John, with the design of steam launches. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1839 and 1874. In 1843 he sculpted "Medea about to Slay her Children" for an exhibition at Westminster Hall, which was held to choose sculptors for the House of Parliament. For the House of Parliament, he received a commission for bronze statues for the House of Lords of two barons, who had signed the Magna Carta. He collaborated with his wife for two pieces, which were displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in London. One was an over-life-sized plaster equestrian statue of Queen Victoria and the other called "Group of Three Children". A marble statue, "A Flower Girl" was his entry to the 1853 Annual Exhibition of Academy of Arts at Leeds. For the 1855 Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, he sculpted "The Knitting Girl." He was commissioned by the Art Union of London for fifty bronze equestrian statues on a plaster base to be given as prizes from 1854 to 1859, Each statue had the horse's legs in a different position. Following Prince Albert's death, he was commissioned for memorial equestrian statues for him to be erected at Halifax with unveiling in September of 1864, and by 1867 a statue at Wolverhampton and Liverpool. Queen Victoria commissioned sculptures from the Royal Academy to create the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. For this project, he accepted an assignment for the marble group entitled "Commerce." With his wife and son Hamo, he designed in 1875 the Poets' Fountain near Hyde Park Corner in London. Over several years, he sculpted a monumental equestrian statue with a chariot being pulled by two horses called "Boadicea and Her Daughters," which was not cast in bronze until 1902, 17 years posthumously. The statue was erected on Westminster Bridge in London. Though a talented sculptor, some historians state that he worked in the shadows of his wife and most of his children.