William Bloye
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Stone mermaid at Birmingham University Guild of Students

William James Bloye (1890 - 6 June 1975) was an English sculptor, active in Birmingham either side of World War II.

He studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art, where his pupils included Raymond Mason and Gordon Herickx. He also studied stone-carving and letter cutting under Eric Gill around 1921.

In 1925 he became a member of the Birmingham Civic Society, having, at about that time, a studio on Golden Hillock Road, Small Heath, Birmingham. As Birmingham's unofficial civic sculptor he worked on virtually all public commissions including libraries, hospitals and the University. He often carved bas-relief plaques, typically for public houses in Birmingham.

He became a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1930 (the two 1919 bronze plaques on the RBSA are the earliest known work by Bloye in Birmingham), and the Royal British Society of Sculptors: ARBS in 1934, and FRBS in 1938. Retiring from the School of Art in 1956 he moved to Solihull. He died in Arezzo, Italy in 1975.

Works

• Boulton, Watt and Murdoch on Broad Street, Birmingham, 1956
• Interior bas-relief carvings in the Hall of Memory, Birmingham, 1925
• Mermaid fountain and also stone mermaid sculpture on wall, both at the University of Birmingham Guild of Students
• Recast in bronze the bust of Josiah Mason from a former marble statue by Francis Williamson. Now at the junction of Chester Road & Orphanage Road in Erdington, 1952
• Recast in bronze the statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Square, Birmingham, 1951
• Sculpture Allegories of Art and Industry, c 1919, over the north-west door of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (The Feeney Gallery extension), Great Charles Street
• Bas-relief on the Mechanical Engineering Building at the University of Birmingham, 1954
• Bas-relief pub signs on The Bear, The Antelope, and The Mermaid, Sparkhill
• Bas-relief running stag on Perry Barr Stadium (1929, attributed^[1])

Allegories of Art and Industry on the Museum and Art Gallery

Bas-relief on the Mechanical Engineering Building at the University of Birmingham

Bronze mermaid at Birmingham University Guild of Students

Boulton, Watt and Murdoch on Broad Street

Sources

• Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield, George T. Noszlopy, edited Jeremy Beach, 1998, ISBN 0-85323-692-5

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William Bloye

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