Object Details

John (Mad Jack) Fuller Memorial

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Makers
General Information
Classification
Object Parts
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History
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Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright for Photograph:

Creative Commons

Location

Street:The Street
Town:Brightling
Parish:Brightling
Council:Rother District Council
County:East Sussex
Postcode:TN32
Location on Google Map
Object setting:Inside building
and in:Religious
Access is:Public
Location note:St. Thomas A Becket Church.
In the AZ book:East Sussex
Page:79
Grid reference:L1
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.
OS Reference:TQ684210

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Makers

Name : Henry Rouw
     Role:Letter carver
Name :Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey
     Role:Sculptor

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General Information

Commissioned by: Sir P.P. Fuller Palmer Ackland Bart. (nephew of Fuller)
Construction period:1819
Work is:Extant
Description:Inscribed rectangular marble memorial set into the south interior wall of the nave between two windows, surmounted by a romanesque bust of Fuller in toga.
Signatures:Underneath the lower edge of the bust:

F CHANTREY R.A.
Inscription:On the memorial:

JOHN FULLER ESQRE
OF ROSE HILL
BORN FEBRUARY THE XX MDCCLVII
DIED APRIL THE XI MDCCCXXXIV.
HE WAS ONE OF THE REPRESENTATIVES
FOR THIS COUNTY IN FOUR SUCCESSIVE
PARLIAMENTS
''UTILE NIHIL QUOD NON
HONESTUM''
ERECTED AS A TRIBUTE OF ESTEEM AND AFFECTION
BY HIS NEPHEW
SIR P. P. FULLER PALMER ACLAND. BARONET

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Classification

Categories:Sculptural, Commemorative
Object type1:Statue
Object type2:Sculpture
Subject type1:Figurative
     Subject subtype1:Head
Subject type2:Portrait
     Subject subtype1:Head

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Object Parts

Part 1:Bust
     Material:None
     Height (cm):60
     Width (cm):55
     Depth (cm):30
Part 2:Base of memorial
     Material:None
     Height (cm):110
     Width (cm):115
     Depth (cm):20

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Object Condition

Overall condition:Good
Risk assessment:No known risk
Date of on-site inspection:07/07/2007

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History

History:'Sir Francis Chantrey made two busts of John Fuller, one by order of the Royal Institute, unveiled in 1835 and the other in 1819, which can be seen in Brightling Church.
…The wording on the bust [in the Royal Institution] reads: ''John Fuller who gave ten thousand pounds for the promotion of science in the Royal Institution''.
(‘Fuller: The Life and Times of John Fuller of Brightling 1757-1834’)

‘He represented the County of Sussex in four successive Parliaments, refusing a peerage rather than forsake his party, for which deed he was nicknamed ‘Honest Jack’ which delighted him so much that he declared his intention of instructing his executors to place his bust in Brightling Church with the inscription:
“UTILE NIHIL QUOD NON HONESTUM”…
Nothing is useful which is not honest, which is derived from Pope’s words, “An honest man’s the noblest work of God.”. This tablet is on the south wall of the Nave and is the work of the famous sculptor, Henry Rouw.
The Fuller family motto was “Carbone et Forcipibus”…By Charcoal and Tongs.
Fuller died in 1834, a bachelor.’
(Brightling Church Guide)

The family motto originated from them being the owners of the Waldron Furnace, iron being an important industry in Sussex at that time. He was elected to Parliament in 1801, 1802 and 1806. Amongst several of his close friends was J.M.W. Turner who executed several paintings of Sussex whilst staying at Fuller's Sussex home, Rose Hill. He was responsible for preserving Bodiam Castle.
(Worthies of Sussex)


Fuller was also responsible for the building of Bell Toute lighthouse in Eastbourne in 1832.

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References

Source 1 :
     Title:‘Fuller: The Life and Times of John Fuller of Brightling 1757-1834’
     Type:Book
     Author:Hutchinson, Geoff.
     Edition:2nd. Revision
     Publisher:Geoff Hutchinson.

Source 2 :
     Title:'Brightling Church Guide'
     Type:Book
     Author:Boyd, Diana.
     Page:21
     Publisher:Tea Brokers Publications ltd. London.

Source 3 :
     Title:'Worthies of Sussex'
     Type:Book
     Author:Lower, Mark Anthony.
     Page:96-98
     Publisher:Printed for subscribers only by G.P. Bacon, Lewes.


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Photographs





Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons

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