From this apprenticeship resulted a close acquaintance with the details of artistic metal casting. Some designs by Stannus for foundry work were selected for the Exhibition of 1862, and an "Essay on the History of Founding in Brass, Copper, and Bronze" won him in 1881 the freedom and livery of the Founders' Company, of which he became in 1907 sub-warden. A more important consequence of the employment at Hoole's was the personal acquaintance with Alfred Stevens. Stannus became his pupil, his assistant, his devoted friend, and afterwards his biographer. With Stevens he worked at the production of the Wellington monument for St Paul's Cathedral, and the long story of the delays which beset that production may be read in "Alfred Stevens and his Work" (1891), an important folio in which Stannus commemorated his master.