Athelia

Paul Montford was born in London in 1868 and studied at the Royal Academy. He taught modelling at the London Polytechnic for 5 years before relocating to Australia in 1923. Over 15 years he produced a significant body of public works of sculpture initially winning the competition for the sculpture of the Shrine of Remembrance Melbourne. His Melbourne works include the statue of John Wesley in front of the Wesley Uniting Church, Lonsdale Street, “Water Nymph” and “Peter Pan” in the Queen Victoria Gardens and “The Court Favourite” in Flagstaff Gardens. In 1934 his statue of Adam Lindsay Gordon in Gordon Square Melbourne won the Gold medal of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. Paul Montford served as VAS President from 1930 to 1932.