Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tate, Christopher
TATE, CHRISTOPHER (1811–1841), sculptor, was born in 1811 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he was apprenticed to a marble mason named Davis, and afterwards worked for the sculptor D. Dunbar. Leaving him in order to gain an independent position as an artist, he produced a ‘Dying Christ’ and a statue of ‘Blind Willie,’ which attracted attention. He then obtained a number of commissions for portrait busts, among them those of the Duke of Northumberland, David Urquhart, Sheridan Knowles, George Straker, and Miss Elphinstone. He exhibited busts at the Royal Academy in 1828, 1829, and 1833. He afterwards produced a ‘Judgment of Paris,’ a well-designed group, and a ‘Musidora.’ In 1840 he was engaged on a statue of the Duke of Northumberland for the Master Mariners' Asylum at Tynemouth, and had finished the most important parts, when his health broke down, and he started on a voyage to the Mediterranean. He died at London on his return home on 22 March 1841. He was buried in London. He had not succeeded in making an income by his talent, and left a wife and two children unprovided for. There are a large number of tombs by Tate in the churches and churchyards of Newcastle and the neighbourhood.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Royal Academy Catalogues; Tyne Mercury, 30 March 1841.]