Maurice Richard Josey
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Maurice Richard Josey (1870—1938) was an English mosaic artist.
Josey was born in Brixton, London in 1870, son of the renowned mezzotint engraver Richard Josey.
The third of fourteen children, Josey was raised and lived in Shepherd's Bush, London. As a youth, Maurice played football for St Jude's Institute, which later became Queens Park Rangers FC. Both he and his brother Thomas studied fine art and became mosaicists.
His most notable mosaic work was that carried out at the The Church of the Sacred Heart and St Catherine of Alexandria in Droitwich, Worcestershire. The designs, conceived by the artist Gabriel Pippet, were begun in 1922 and took Josey 12 years to complete. Josey was assisted in the task by a boy, Fred Oates, who grew to manhood during the completion of the mosaics. Josey studied the mosaics at Ravenna in Italy prior to undertaking the Droitwich commission. The mosaics are remarkable in that they cover almost the entirety of the church.
Maurice Josey married Emily Jane Hatton and they had seven children, one of their daughters died while they lived at Droitwich. Josey died a few years after completing his work at Droitwich and was buried in London.
After Josey's death, a further commission was undertaken at Droitwich in the chapel. This work was carried out by Tom Josey, Maurice's younger brother.
Josey's worked also included creating the faces in mosaics at St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
