Born 6 Oval Road, Camden Town. Also did the bronze group with clock at the entrance to Selfridges; Oxford Street (1928); the lovely sculptural work on 1 Wigmore Street (1925) as shown at ; the reliefs at the Fire Brigade HQ and tow allegorical sculptures, Healing and Charity, at the Royal Masonic Hospital Nurses' Home in Fulham. Also see Father Jellicoe for information about some very unusual Bayes work. Died Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, Marylebone. In this family photo Gilbert is on the right.
Father Basil Jellicoe set up the St Pancras House Improvement Society and commissioned Bayes to create ceramic finials to top the washing-line posts in some of the courtyards. The nearby British Library has (2013 and still there in 2025) a small display, in the lower level, of some of these charming Doultonware items. These come from: St Martin's flats on the Eversholt Estate; the Drummond Estate: the York Rise Estate in Tufnell Park. These are on loan from the St Pancras and Humanist Housing Association.
A BL information board says “The sculptor Gilbert Bayes … His main sources of inspiration were folklore, the Bible and medieval romances. Many of his finials symbolised episodes in the lives of saints, after whom buildings on the estates were named. Remarkably the finials survived World War II undamaged but today very few originals remain.”
Many were stolen so the remaining 100 were taken into storage, from where, infuriatingly, they were stolen. Many of the finials in situ now are replicas. Designed for St Pancras, other copies of these figures were made, displayed and were on general sale in the 1930s. So when they turn up for sale it is not possible to claim them back as stolen items.
has a good post on the Sidney Estate, the Jellicoe project where these lovely finials were erected. And has some good photos of the ceramic lunettes.
2023: has an extensive article about the finials, prompted by the recovery of two.
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