page_title: Matthew Taylor (sculptor)
section_title: Gravestone of William Taylor, or "Angler's Tomb", after May 1873
hierarchical_section_title: Matthew Taylor (sculptor) / Works by Matthew Taylor / Gravestone of William Taylor, or "Angler's Tomb", after May 1873
caption_attribution_description: Showing the Angler's Tomb, or the gravestone of William Taylor (1793-1873), carved by his son Matthew Taylor. William was buried on the right hand side of the chapel in Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds, West Yorkshire, but the gravestone has now been removed to the left hand side. The kingfisher once on top of the monument is missing. The gravestone was named "Angler's Tomb" by Rev. W.T. Adey in 1905, in response to the images carved upon it. Showing carving of life-sized fish basket, as if left by the fishermen on the plinth of the gravestone.
context_page_description: Matthew Taylor was a sculptor based in Leeds and Arthington, West Yorkshire, England. He was apprenticed to Catherine Mawer, and was known in his day for bust, medallion and relief portraits, and statues. He exhibited some of these in Leeds Art Gallery during the last decade of his life. Between 1861 and 1876 he worked in partnership with Benjamin Burstall; they executed the sculpture on the Town Hall at Bolton in Greater Manchester. After Taylor's death, in 1905 his work received further recognition when Reverend W.T. Adey praised his carving on William Taylor's gravestone at Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds, and named it the "Angler's Tomb." That work is now a listed monument. Taylor was a member of the Mawer Group, which included the above-mentioned sculptors, plus Robert Mawer, Charles Mawer, Benjamin Payler and William Ingle.
context_section_description: This is a Grade II listed monument, listed for its "finely carved lettering and figures." Matthew Taylor's father William died on 24 May 1873 and was buried in Woodhouse Cemetery four days later. Matthew was the "gifted sculptor" of William's gravestone, known as the "Angler's Tomb". As of 2017, the gravestone has been removed from the right to the left side of the chapel at Woodhouse Cemetery, and the kingfisher is missing from the top of the monument. The illustration of fishing in the Wharfe has weathered, obscuring the face of William Taylor and the view of Grewelthorpe on the far bank. The Reverend William Thomas Adey (1844–1925), who was pastor of Burley Road Baptist Church, Leeds 1870–1878, and a friend of Matthew, wrote about this "beautiful and interesting memorial" in 1905 as follows:
  "It is the tomb of that of an ancient angler, old William Taylor, of Grewelthorpe. Situated on the right hand side of the chapel at Woodhouse Cemetery ... it does one's heart good to see in it a memorial of filial affection and of exquisite good taste. The monumental slab at the head of the grave is thicker than usual, so as to give a good appearance when viewed edgeway. As if resting for a moment on the apex is a kingfisher, beautifully posed with a minnow in its mouth. In the upper part of the stone above the inscription are three trout, arranged in a triangle as an ecclesiastical symbol of the Trinity. Beneath, and occupying a large part of the face, is a sunk medallion with a representation of the stream, with Grewelthorpe village on the farther bank, and with the old man in the foreground playing a trout, whilst the son, who was the gifted sculptor of the tomb, is receiving it in the landing net. The figures are portraits and are in fine preservation. On the plinth of the tomb, as if left there once for all, is a wonderful facsimile, in actual size though in stone, of the fish basket with strap and buckle. Finally, at the shoulders of the stone are, beautifully represented in medallions and in natural size, a water-ousel and a kingfisher, one on either side ... The writer was a Leeds pastor, and Mr. Taylor, the younger, was an old waterside companion in occasional visits to the Wharfe, at Arthington and Pool ... It is evident that even now a process of settlement is working damage, and an encroaching Aucuba japonica is concealing one of the most beautifully designed tombstones in this, or any other country." (Leeds Mercury 24 June 1905)
   Media related to Woodhouse Cemetery, Angler's Tomb at Wikimedia Commons
caption: Fish basket on Angler's Tomb
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