Hadleigh Nub News delves into the life of Hadleigh born artist Thomas Woolner.

English sculptor and poet Thomas Woolner was born in Hadleigh, on 17 December 1825, and trained under sculptor William Behnes.

He soon found relative success in the art world as, at the age of 19 he began contributing work to the Royal Academy from 1843.

Woolner soon became acquainted with poet and illustrator Dante Gabriel Rossetti and became one of the founder-members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood alongside Rossetti and other famous artists such as William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais.

Despite his association with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and his works at the Royal Academy, at first, we was unable to sustain a living.

Thus, he emigrated to Australia for a year, obtaining commissions. Upon his return, he soon established himself as both a sculptor and art-dealer

He counted amongst his close friends writers such as Thomas Carlyle and Alfred Tennyson, keeping his circle firmly in the art sphere.

In the 1880s, he wrote three long narrative works, "Pygmalion," "Silenus" and "Tiresias." These works were especially interesting as they go against the ethos of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood that he founded.

Instead they focused on classicalism, often depicting characters from the classical period such as Silenus, the Greek god Dionysus' companion. He frequently corresponded with Charles Darwin, who named part of the human ear the "Woolnerian tip" after a feature in Woolner's sculpture "Puck." Woolner had discussed this anatomical feature when Darwin had been sitting to him for a portrait. In the case of Woolner, his personal life was what one might expect from the life of an artist. He married Alice Gertrude Waugh, although he had initially been in love with her sister, Fanny. He had previously proposed to her but turned him down. Fanny then went on to marry Woolner's Pre-Raphaelite colleague William Holman Hunt the following year. Hunt's granddaughter, Diana Holman-Hunt, later claimed that before his marriage, Woolner had been involved in a relationship with a lower-class girl called Amelia Henderson. He appealed to Hunt for support. Hunt arranged with Frederick Stephens to give Henderson funds to emigrate to Australia so that she would not interfere with Woolner's wedding plans. Send us any famous Hadleigh residents you find interesting, or any story you would like to see published by using the black 'Nub It' button.