Provenance: the artist’s brother in law Robert Austin, thence by descent.
Woodford was a sculptor in a range of materials, born in Nottingham,
where he studied at the School of Art. After service with 2ith Sherwood
Foresters on the continent in World War I, where he was mentioned in
dispatches, Woodford attended Royal College of Art. During World War II
Woodford was camouflage officer to the Air Ministry. He was elected RA
in 2945 and was a fellow of RBS. Woodford was a prolific producer of
figurative sculpture. Among his notable works were bronze doors at the
RIBA; main doors at Norwich City Hall; stone figures and panels,
Huddersfield Library and Art Gallery; statue of Robin Hood in
Nottingham; sculpture for Imperial War Graves Commission British
cemeteries in Italy; new design of Royal Coat of Arms, 1962; and many
coats of arms for government buildings in Britain and abroad. Woodford’s
output is widely illustrated: in the volume RBS: Modern British
Sculpture, published 1939; in Arthur T Broadbent’s Sculpture Today in
Great Britain 1940-1943, published 1949; and he was included in
Sculpture In Britain Between The Wars, Fine Art Society, 1986. Lived in
Twickenham, Middlesex.