Sir William Reid Dick was a Scottish-born sculptor known for his stylised sculptures and portrait busts. He trained at the Glasgow School of Art as a stone mason and later at South London Technical School of Art. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1908 where he would then exhibit regularly, becoming an Associatein 1921 and a Royal Academician in 1928. That same year he was also appointed a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission. Between 1933 and 1938 he served as President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and was knighted by King George V in 1935. He was appointed Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland to King George VI from 1938 and continued to hold post under Queen Elizabeth until his death in 1961.
Reid Dick fulfilled many notable commissions, which he received from around the world including the US Senate, Washington D.C. Closer to home, commission pieces include the statue of Sir John Soane for the Bank of England, the bust of Canon Alexander in St Paul’s Cathedral and portrait busts of Sir Reginald Blomfield and Lord Duveen in the National Portrait Gallery. Dick also created reliefs for Oxford Street’s Selfridges department store, and the RAF Royal Air Force Memorial on London’s Victoria Embankment.
Other works in bronze include portrait busts of George VI, Sir Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth, with each subject sitting for him personally. Sir Reid Dick’s esteemed body of work also includes the tombs of King George V and Queen Mary in St George’s Chapel, Windsor as well as their memorials along with that of King George VI in Sandringham Church.