Sculptor. Sir William Hamo Thornycroft is recognized as a late 19th to early 20th century English sculptor, who is the creator for some of best-known public statues and monuments, which were erected not only in London but world-wide. Born the son of Thomas and Mary Thornycroft, both celebrated sculptors, "Hamo," as he was called, began his training to become a sculptor at home. He trained under Baron Fredric Leighton. This training followed with studying at the Royal Academy and schools in Italy, where he was particularly interested in Michelangelo and other classics. He was one of the youngest students at the Royal Academy. He was a tall, muscular man with golden-red hair. Becoming a sculptor in his own right by the 1880s, his work was not overshadowed by his parents' earlier pieces. In 1882, he was elected to the Royal Academy. His 1881 bronze Greek mythology figure "Teucer," showing a naked athletic youth with his outstretched left arm holding a bow, was sold a Christie's auction in 1992 for nearly $16,000. Originally, "Teucer" was purchased for the British nation under the auspices of the Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey Bequest. Among his most successful pieces was the 1899 statue of Oliver Cromwell outside Westminster Hall. An 18-foot-tall statue of Major-General Charles George Gordon, donned in full military uniform with a cane and Bible in his hand, was erected in Trafalgar Square on October 16, 1888, but after being moved several times, is located at the Victoria Embankment in London since 1953. An identical statue of Gordon by Thornycroft was erected in 1889 at Gordon Reserve in Melbourne, Australia. Among his other statues are the Bishop of London Mandell Creighton, which was erected at St. Paul's Cathedral; Rev. John Colet, founder of St. Paul's School; Prime Minister William Gladstone's Memorial, which included an 11-foot-tall statue and finished in 1905; and an architect, Richard Norman Shaw, a bas-relief in 1914 at the New Scotland Yard. He produced the relief on the Institute of Chartered Accountants in London. For his artistic abilities, he was knighted in 1917. At The National Gallery there are exhibited several portraits of him along with small sculptures he made.