Richard Westmacott (the younger)

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Royal Exchange, pediment by Richard Westmacott

Richard Westmacott (the younger) (1799 - 19 April 1872) - also sometimes described as Richard Westmacott III (to distinguish him from his father and grandfather - both sculptors bearing the same name) - was a prominent English sculptor of the early- and mid-19th century.

Born in London, he was the son of Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856), and followed closely in his father's footsteps: studying at the Royal Academy (from 1818), being elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy (in 1838) and a full Academician (in 1849), and then succeeding his father to serve as the RA's professor of sculpture (1857-1868) - the only time an RA professorship passed from father to son.

Among his most notable works is the pediment of the Royal Exchange in the City of London. Other works include:

the tomb of Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke at St Andrew's Church in Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
monument commemorating Sir John Franklin's lost Arctic expedition of 1845, now in the Chapel sacristy at Greenwich Hospital, south-east London

He is commemorated by a memorial in St Mary Abbots church in Kensington, west London.