Harry Bates (1850 – 1899) was the fifth of eight children born to local builder Joseph Bates and his wife Anne, who lived between the Grange and the house of the headmaster of Alleyne’s School. Harry attended the school before joining the family firm and working as a stone carver for ten years. In 1879 he went to study at Lambeth School of Art and then the Royal Academy School. He used a prizewinning scholarship to study in Paris under Jules Dalou and Auguste Rodin. From 1855 he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy, and undertook many commissions for public sculptures, such as “Queen Victoria” in Dundee. He died from heart disease, his funeral being held at St Nicholas Church.
The weatherbeaten appearance of the plaster cast of this relief is due to the fact that for many years it stood in the porch of a house at Coreys Mill, before being presented in 1918 to Thomas Alleyne School, where it is on the wall of the dining-room.
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