John Poole (sculptor)
Anthony John John Poole, FRBS, Hon. FRBSA, (born Handsworth,Birmingham, 17 December 1926 - died Bishampton, Worcestershire, 2 September 2009). Was a British freelance sculptor, and winner of 2 Otto Beit medals.
Poole grew up in Hall Green, Birmingham, attending Hall Green Infants and Junior School, Stratford Road. At the age of 12 he gained a place at Moseley Road Junior School of Art, and went on to study Industrial Design at the Birmingham School of Art. At the age of 17, in the Studio of William Bloye, he learnt the art of letter carving in the style of Eric Gill. In December 1944, Poole was called up for service in the Coldstream Guards and the Parachute Regiment during World War II. As a lieutenant he served in France and in Germany as a liaison officer during the Nuremberg trials. He was subsequently recruited as an officer in the Parachute Regiment 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion, serving in Egypt and Palestine.
His first major commission was "The Sower", an heroic-size figure, carved out of Belgian granite in 1959, for Cannock Library in Staffordshire.
Thirty of his major commissions were in and around Birmingham, his most notable being "The Rotunda Relief" at Lloyds Bank (1963). A 1,500-square-foot (140 m2) ciment fondu mural for the Lloyds Banking Hall in the newly built Rotunda in Birmingham, which was subsequently Grade II listed by English Heritage. However, since that building was renovated, it has been hidden from view, with only a small part visible, on the top floor of a retail unit.
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