Benjamin Burstall (15 October 1835 – 14 January 1876) was a sculptor, architectural sculptor and stone carver, based in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Background Burstall's father was master mariner and ship owner Nathaniel Burstall (Hull 1801 – Hunslet 1854), Deaths Mar 1854 Burstall Nathaniel Hunslet 9b 164 and his mother was Maria. He was born on 15 October 1835 in Holbeck, West Riding of Yorkshire, and his birth was registered in a nonconformist church.England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970. Benjamin Burstall Birth year 1835 Birth date 15 October 1835 Place Leeds Denomination - Father's first name(s) Nathaniel Mother's first name(s) Maria County Yorkshire Country England. The National Archives reference TNA/RG/5/139. Description Certificate nos: 7501-8000, Vol 15 Record set England & Wales Non-Conformist Births And Baptisms Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records Subcategory Parish BaptismsMapping the practice and profession of sculpture: Benjamin BurstallUnited Kingdom Census 1841 HO107 Piece number 1344 Book number 12 Folio number 38 Page number 3; United Kingdom Census 1851 HO107 Piece number 2315 Folio 308 Page 14; United Kingdom Census 1861 RG09 Piece number 3387 Folio 109 Page number 24; United Kingdom Census 1871 Class: RG10; Piece: 4560; Folio: 13; Page: 24; GSU roll: 847140 He was married to Sarah Mather (1838–1889) Deaths December 1889 Burstall Sarah 51 Leeds 9b 402 on 3 October 1857 at St Peter's, Leeds (now Leeds Minster). Marriages December 1857 Burstall Benjamin and Mather Sarah Leeds 9b 299West Yorkshire, England, Marriages and Banns, 1813-1921: Benjamin Burstall; marriage age 22; event type marriage; birth year abt 1835; marriage date 3 October 1857; marriage place Leeds, St Peter, Yorkshire, England; parish Leeds St Peter They had at least six children, all born in Leeds: Harry Barton (1859–1936), Births Mar 1859 Burstall Harry Barton Newcastle on Tyne 10b 29 Deaths Mar 1936 Burstall Harry B. 77 Leeds North 9b 432 Frank Gilbert, (b.1861) who became a telegraph operator and emigrated to Canso, Nova Scotia, Births Jun 1861 Burstall Frank Gilbert Leeds 9b 443 Nell Gwynne (1863–1905) who married Edwin Armitage Hobson in 1889, Births Jun 1863 Burstall Nell Gwynne Leeds 9b 459 Marriages Mar 1889 Burstall Nell Gwynn and Edwin Armitage Hobson Sculcoates 9d 260 Deaths Sep 1905 Hobson Nell Gwyne 43 Leeds 9b 336 Victor Hugo (1865–1951), Births Sep 1865 Burstall Victor Hugo Leeds 9b 475 Deaths Jun 1951 Burstall Victor H. 85 Bradford 2b 188 Lewis Belgrave (1869–1904), Births December 1868 Burstall Lewis Belgrave. Leeds 9b 491 Deaths Jun 1904 Burstall Lewis Belgrave. 35 Lambeth 1d 205 and Lauri (b.1870) who emigrated from Liverpool to New York on 17 February 1892, with a Miss Charlotte Copeland, aged 21, who shared the same ticket number. Births Sep 1870 Burstall Lauri Leeds 9b 461UK, outward passenger lists, 1890-1960
Burstall died of tuberculosis on 14 January 1876, aged 40 years, in Leeds.Death certificate: Burstall, Benjamin, 1876, March quarter, Leeds Yorkshire, born 1836, age at death 40, vol9B p359 He was buried alongside his mother and father in Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds, in plot 4653. He left £600, and one of the executors of his will was his business partner Matthew Taylor of Arthington.England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966: Benjamin Burstall. Death date 14 January 1876; death place Yorkshire, England; probate date 4 March 1876; registry Wakefield
Career From 1861 Burstall was working in partnership with Matthew Taylor (1837–1889), as Burstall and Taylor, Sculptors, based in Cookridge Street, Leeds. In 1861 he was describing himself as a sculptor, and by 1871 he was employing two men and two boys.
Works by Burstall and Taylor
St Mary, Hunslet, 1862–1864
This church, on Church street, Hunslet, Leeds,Church of England: Hunslet St Mary the Virgin was designed by Perkin and Backhouse to replace a smaller one, due to the increasing size of the congregation. The foundation stone was laid in June 1862 by Mr B. Ingham, a local benefactor. The church was consecrated on Thursday 21 July 1864 by the Bishop of Ripon. The building had a tower, spire, clock, aisles and transepts. Inside were clustered shafts with carved capitals. The east and west windows were by Clayton and Bell of London, and the Caen stone reredos and font were by Burstall and Taylor.Yorkshire Gazette, Saturday 23 July 1864 p3 col5: Church consecration at Hunslet Only the tower remains, after the nave was rebuilt, and consecrated on 9 July 1975.Leodis: The parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, interior view St Mary's was at risk of closure in 2015, due to heating failure and deterioration of the fabric of the 20th-century building.Yorkshire Evening Post 21 December 2015: Double church closure sparks uncertainty over Leeds landmark
St Stephen, Kirkstall, 1863–1864
This is a Grade II listed building, on Park Mount off Morris Lane, Kirkstall, West Yorkshire.Church of England: Kirkstall St Stephen It was designed by Robert Dennis Chantrell in 1828–1829. The church was reopened by the Bishop of Ripon on 17 August 1864, after a renovation by Perkin and Backhouse of Leeds,Note: not by Perkin and Bulmer as incorrectly listed by Historic England which created a "very ecclesiastical interior."John Bull, Saturday 20 August 1864 p7 col1: On Wednesday in last week" The interior previously had box pews, a flat ceiling, three galleries and a three-decker pulpit. In the renovation which involved Burstall and Taylor, carved label stops were added to the chancel. The new roof beams in the chancel and transepts rested on carved corbels. The eight windows in the aisles to the transepts, and another in the south aisle in memory of Joseph Whitham, are by William Warrington. The Richard "Factory King" Oastler memorial window in the north aisle is by William Wailes.Dundee Courier, Tuesday 07 June 1864 p4 col5 The memorial window dedicated to William Beckett in the south transept is by Prede.
In 1864, the Leeds Intelligencer reported the following:"On entering the church, the first thing which attracts attention is the font, which stands permanently in the centre of the aisle at the west end, with ample space all round it. It is executed of Caen stone, alabaster and marble; its dimensions are noble, and the design most unique. The bowl is square, having trefoil sunk panels on each side of the alabaster columns, and carved capitals at the angles. It is supported on an octagonal shaft, and brought onto the square with four emblematical angels. Each face has a sunk niche with red marble shafts and trefoil arched canopy, in which stand in bold relief the four evangelists on moulded pedestals. The base is boldly moulded, and of green Irish marble. The font is placed upon an elevated octagonal foot pace of blue and white stone, with sunk quatrefoil panels on each side, inlaid with various coloured marbles. This delicate and chastely-executed piece of work was done by Messrs. Burstall and Taylor of Cookridge-street."Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 13 August 1864 p5 col3: Reopening of St Stephen's Church, Kirkstall (Leeds Intelligencer 13 August 1864)
St Oswald, Fulford, 1866
This is a Grade II listed building. St Oswald replaced a smaller church. Costing £4,788, it was designed for 450 sittings with a spire and transepts by James Pigott Pritchett junior of Darlington (son of James Pigott Pritchett). It was consecrated by the Archbishop of York on Monday 24 December 1866.Illustrated London News, Saturday 21 November 1868 p13: St Oswald's Church Fulford York The tower had lost its spire by 1960.Francis Frith: Fulford St Oswald's c.1960 Taylor & Burstall provided the architectural carving.
(The tower below the spire was) "highly ornamented at the belfry stage, having two windows on each face, with shafts of red stone in deeply recessed jambs, finished by carved caps supporting richly moulded arches and which, with carved strings and bold cornice surmounting the whole, give a very rich effect to this portion of the design ... The west front ... has a double recessed and shafted doorway, with carved caps in the centre, and above a handsome four-light window, with moulded jambs, mullions and tracery, having also carved caps and moulded bases; on each side are buttresses with carved, crocketted canopies ... (The clerestory windows) have label moulds. The ends of the transepts have each two long two-light windows, surmounted by a handsome rose window, having red stone shafts, carved caps, moulded tracery, label moulds &c ... The nave is divided from the aisles and transepts by pillars of red stone ... These have very elaborately carved caps ... The aisles of the chancel are divided from it by double arches with similar bases and caps, and with moulded spandrels ... The principal rafters of the roof are supported by carved angel corbels ... The east end has a reredos with red stone shafts, carved caps and moulded arches ... The carving (other than the pulpit, font and woodcarving) has been done by Messrs Burstall & Taylor of Leeds.(York Herald, 29 December 1866)York Herald, Saturday 29 December 1866 p10 col3: Consecration of the Church of St Oswald Fulford
Respecting the "very effective arcade between the nave and aisles, the Yorkshire Architectural Society said in 1867: "with a transition Norman aspect, the details of the caps are well designed from natural foliage, sufficiently but not over-conventionalized."Yorkshire Gazette, Saturday 05 January 1867 p10 col1: Yorkshire Architectural Society
A fire broke out under the Brindley & Foster pipe organ, installed in 1875, shortly after 6.00am on Tuesday 13 February 1877, and much was destroyed apart from the outer walls, tower and vestry, which were saved by a "contingent from the barracks", or about a hundred men from the 6th Carabiniers commanded by Colonel Napier. A steam fire engine and a hundred policemen also arrived from York, but the destruction occurred within one and a half hours. By 1877 the reredos had been infilled with mosaic, but that was destroyed also, although the reredos itself was "not much injured". The parish registers were saved.Edinburgh Evening News, Wednesday 14 February 1877 p3 col3: A Yorkshire church burned downWestern Times, Friday 16 February 1877 p2 col5: Burning of a churchDriffield Times, Saturday 17 February 1877 p3 col5: Destruction of a church by fireManchester Evening News, Wednesday 14 February 1877 p2 col5: Destruction of a church by fireDaily Gazette for Middlesbrough, Wednesday 14 February 1877 p4 col2: Church destroyed by fire near YorkSheffield Independent, Wednesday 14 February 1877 p3 col4: Church destroyed by fire near YorkSheffield Daily Telegraph, Friday 30 July 1875 p3 col7: Fulford Church near York The church was rebuilt in 1877 and survives as such today,The Church of England: St Oswalds Fulford although the belfry section of the tower has been remodelled.See archive image: Francis Frith image 1885
Grand Hotel, Scarborough, 1863–1867