Matthew Noble (23 March 1817 – 23 June 1876) was a leading British portrait sculptor. Carver of numerous monumental figures and busts including work memorializing Victorian era royalty and statesmen displayed in locations such as Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and in Parliament Square, London.
Noble was born in Hackness, near Scarborough, as the son of a stonemason, and served his apprenticeship under his father. He left Yorkshire for London when quite young, there he studied under John Francis (the father of sculptor Mary Thornycroft). Exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy from 1845 until his death, Noble became recognised after winning the competition to construct the Wellington Monument in Manchester in 1856.
Although prolific Noble was never in perfect health. He died at the age of 58 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London, on the west side of the main entrance path from the north, towards the central colonnade. His uncompleted works were finished by his assistant, J. Edwards.
figures of Robert Peel, 1851, and Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, 1874, in Parliament Square, Londonfigure of Robert Peel, 1853, in the Concert Hall of St George's Hall, LiverpoolWilliam Cotton (banker), Bank of England, 1855the Wellington Monument in Manchester, with Wellington and allegorical bronzes of War, Peace, Wisdom and Victory, 1856marble figure of Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons in St Paul's Cathedral, London, 1860recumbent effigy of Thomas Carr, First Bishop of Bombay, St. Thomas Cathedral, Mumbaithe figure of Albert in his memorial at Albert Square, Manchester, 1862–1867John Franklin in Waterloo Place, London, 1866figure of Peter Fairbairn, Mayor of Leeds, in Leeds, 1868statue of Albert, Prince Consort, Bombay, India, 1869. Located at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai.David Napier, now in Glasgow Transport Museum, 1871Sir James Ramsden, Barrow-in-Furness, 1872bust of Oliver Cromwell at the Manchester Town Hallstatue of Cromwell at Wythenshawe Hall - from November 1875 until 1968 situated at the junction of Deansgate and Victoria Street in Manchester city centremarble statue of Queen Victoria and marble canopy, Bombay, India, 1872. Currently located in the grounds of the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai.James McGrigor in the small garden to the Royal Army Medical College, London3 statues at the back of the Royal Academy, LondonSir James Outram, 1st Baronet in Whitehall Gardens, London, 1871two recumbent effigies at York Minster, Yorkbronze figure of the Marquess of Anglesey, by Matthew Noble, was placed on top of The Marquess of Anglesey's Column at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in 1860Captain William (Bill) Henry Cecil George Pechell (1830 - 1855) now in Waterloo Street Community Garden, Hove, East SussexLady van den Bempde-Johnstone (d 1853) in the Chancel of the Church of St Peter, Hackness, south wall.
