Sanders of New Road, Fitzroy Square, stone masons (active 1810s-70s)

A London statuary firm, father and son, signing ‘Sanders of New Road, Fitzroy Square, and later, Euston Road (as New Road was renamed). The father was John James Sanders, d.1867, the son Charles Sanders, born around 1825, and the firm carried on until around 1900. The works I have seen date from 1813-1849, with the majority in the last decade of that range, though the company has a few tablets through to the 1870s. They are nearly all of the white-on-black tablet type, all Classical, decorated with high relief carvings of draped pots, crossed branches, leafy corbels and the like. There exist two or three figure pieces by the firm which I have not had opportunity to see.

The company was based in what became 365 Euston Road, between Cleveland Street and Conway Street, by Portland Street Station, but was in the early 19th Century, 6 Keppel’s Row, New Road, which is how it appears in early postal directories; Fitzroy Square is just south of this part of the street, hence the ‘New Road Fitzroy Square’ signature on the monuments (see picture below - you will need to click to enlarge).

Next to Sanders was another statuary, George Maille at no.5 Keppel’s Row [367 Euston Road today] and then nos. 1-4 (369-375 Euston Rd today) was entirely occupied by John Seeley, later Austin and Seeley, the most successful manufacturer of cement-based artificial stone, used mostly for garden ornaments. It seems Sanders moved into garden ornaments too later on, as an advert from 1881 notes that they had bought up most of the models of Austin and Seeley, and could supply these as well as monumental work.

In central London, examples of Sanders’ work may be seen in St James Clerkenwell and St George Bloomsbury, with various others in the environs of London, notably two in Wanstead Church, and two in Rickmansworth Church, as well as further afield.

Sanders' signature.