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Exhibition 2006
RICHARD REGINALD GOULDEN
The Sculptor of Dover War Memorial
 Richard Reginald Goulden was born in
Dover on 30 August 1876 and was christened at St. Mary's, Dover,
on 1 October 1876. He was one of the four children of John James
Goulden, born in Canterbury in 1841, and his wife Charlotte, née
Wright, who was born at Witney, Oxfordshire. The couple were
married at Ducklington in 1871.
A former journeyman cabinet-maker John James Goulden set up in 1865 a
bookselling, stationery, and printing business in Dover,
followed by a branch in Folkestone. Sadly, he died when Richard
was three. Mrs Goulden carried on the business at 176 Snargate
Street, remaining involved until 1902.
Growing up in Dover, Richard was educated at Dover College and
at the Dover School of Art. He won a Royal Exhibition
Scholarship to the Royal College of Art, London. There he
studied architecture and then sculpture, being awarded prizes
for both and the travelling scholarship for sculpture. When he
returned, he produced two panels for the Carnegie Trustees in
Dunfermline and was invited to become their Art Advisor. Living
in Dunfermline for two years, he executed several commissions,
amongst them the fountain "Let
Noble Ambition". He also produced the statue of Carnegie himself and
the Carnegie
hero medal.
During the Great War, Richard served with the Royal Engineers in
France, gaining a "Mentioned in Dispatches" on 30 April 1916 and
a temporary captainship in the first half of that year.
Invalided from the Front Line, he served during the remaining
years of the war at Brightlingsea, appointed adjutant to the
Australian Engineers, and then in London, attached to the Chief
Engineer of the Royal Engineers, and in command of a special
emergency Corps. His final
discharge on 25 July 1919 described his civilian occupation
as Designer and Sculptor. A number of War
Memorials were amongst his subsequent works, including The Bank
of England, Kingston-on-Thames, Gateshead, Reigate and Redhill,
and St John's Church, Hackney.
The Dover War Memorial was erected and dedicated in 1924. The
design of the bronze figure was based on
"Let Noble Ambition",
1908.
Afterwards the Town Council wrote to Mr Goulden that they
offered "their congratulations on his beautiful work, the
assurance of their high appreciation of motif, design, and
workmanship, and their best thanks for an artistic memorial
which is not only worthy of the object and the borough but will
always reflect the greatest credit on the sculptor."
Richard Goulden
died on 6 August 1932, leaving a widow, Muriel Olive Cecile, née
Gant, and their children Wilma Ruth and Michael. He was buried at
Newhaven. A virtual duplicate of the bronze figure on the Dover War
Memorial is located near the entrance of the cemetery. When
presenting the figure the year after the sculptor's death, Mrs Goulden said that it was one of the best pieces of his work.
*
The daughter of Arthur John
and Edith Louisa Gant, Mrs Goulden was a water colourist and
illustrator. She founded the Chelsea illustrators, of which
Margaret Tempest, of Little Grey Rabbit fame, was a member. Her
work may also be seen on Dover Town Memorial. It was Mrs Goulden
who designed the panel of seventy further names, erected and
dedicated in 1934.
*
Other works by Mr Goulden
include, we understand: George Frederick Watts on the
facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Dolly Burton
memorial and a commemorative plaque for Eadweard Muybridge at
Kingston-upon-Thames, the Margaret McDonald memorial at Lincoln's
Inn Fields, fountains at Malvern and at Shaw, Lancashire, reliefs on the Brightlingsea
War Memorial, the Middlesex Guildhall War Memorial, the
Bromsgrove memorial, the Surbiton
memorial,
 the War Memorial at St Michael, Cornhill, the Crompton War
 Memorial
and an RAMC memorial at Millbank barracks for which he was
complimented by the King.
Mr Goulden's last work was the memorial in Kensal
Green cemetery to Thomas Power O'Connor, journalist and politician, completed just before Mr Goulden died. In 1997 the one-and-a-half life-size
statue of the Gurkha Soldier was unveiled at Whitehall,
Horseguards Avenue; a smaller earlier version stands at the head
of the Foreign Office main staircase in Whitehall. The sculptor, Philip Jackson, based his
design on a life-sized statue created by Mr Goulden in 1924
Left:
"Ambition of Youth" 1908. This figure depicts a young man
reaching for a winged victor's wreath. Image from
"Sculptures from Academy Architecture 1904-1908",
digitised for the Microsoft Corporation, use permissible for
non-commercial, personal, research, or educational
purposes.
picture:
Richard Reginald Goulden, by courtesy of R J Goulden
with grateful thanks to Mr R J Goulden for extensive help with
our Sculptor's biography
with thanks to Kris for information about "Ambition of Youth"
illustrations: memorial at Newhaven cemetery and Mr and Mrs
Goulden's grave at Newhaven by Richard Stanley
note: Miss Goulden, Richard's sister, assisted
Mr
East, who ran the Art School at the Dover School of Art in Ladywell.
1901
In the Dover Express of 20 September 1901 is an account of
the prizewinners of the Dover Municiapl School of Art, Science,
and Technology. Richard Goulden received this year his
scholarship for the Royal Collegel of Art, South Kensignton.
Covering three years, it was worth £60 per annum, and only ten
were offered each year throughout the United Kingdom. His
success was well-deserved as he won prizes that year in many of
the categories. For a set of works he gained a prize of books,
and in the examinations he gained a first in Modelling from the
Antique, Advanced Modelling Design, Anatomy, Drawing from the
Antique, Drawing the Antique from Memory, Painting Ornament,
Architecture, and Drawing in Light and Shade. He also gained an
Excellent for Modelling from Life and in Drawing from Life, and
Second Class awards in Historic Ornament, Painting from Still
Life, and Principles of Ornament,
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