Sir Francis Chantrey, an English sculptor, born at Norton, Derbyshire, April 7, 1781, died in London, Nov. 25, 1841. Although designed for the law, his taste led him to be apprenticed to a wood carver; and later, wishing to be more wholly an artist, he undertook modelling in clay, first in Dublin, then in Edinburgh, and lastly in London. A bust sent in 1806 to the exhibition of the royal academy interested Nollekens, a popular sculptor, through whom Chantrey was brought into notice, and soon became famous. He was made a member of the royal academy in 1818, and in 1819 of the academies of Rome and Florence, and was knighted in 1835; and as a popular sculptor of monumental figures he acquired a large fortune. His ideal works are few and unimportant, and some of the best of them are from the designs of others; he suffered moreover from disease of the heart, so that many of his works had to be finished by his assistant, Mr. Weekes; yet he gained the foremost place in this order of sculpture, and his numerous busts form a complete gallery of the most distinguished men of his time.

His monumental works are the most important: the hot of them being the "Sleeping Children," in Lichfield cathedral, after designs by Stothard. He enriched Westminster abbey with many sculptures, among which the fine statue of Canning is considered his masterpiece. One of his best works is the bronze statue of Pitt, in Hanover square, London. He also made the statues of Washington, in the state house, Boston; James Watt, in the church of Aston, near Birmingham; and Bishop Heber, at Calcutta. He constructed a funeral vault for himself in the church of Norton, where he was buried; and left certain bequests to the clergyman and the poor of the place upon condition of the tomb being kept in order. He died without children or near relatives, and left his fortune, after suitable provision for his widow, for the encouragement of art. The original models of most of his works, comprising valuable portraits of his contemporaries, were presented by Lady Chantrey to Oxford university. - See his life by George Jones (London, 1850), and by John Holland (1851).