Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Belt, Richard
BELT, Richard, sculptor, born in 1851, in Smith Square, Westminster, was educated at Baroness Burdett Coutts' School, Westminster. He left school at the age of nine, was admitted into Mr. Foley's studio in 1869, and became a student of the Royal Academy in 1871. He exhibited his first work in 1873, and up to the present time has every year exhibited several sculptures. Mr. Belt is a member of the Royal Institution, and on the Council of the Society of Fine Arts. He has executed several public works, amongst them the Memorial in Stafford Church to Izaak Walton, "The Byron" in Hyde Park, Charles Kingsley in Chester Cathedral, Lord Beaconsfield in Hughenden Church, a commission from the Queen; also the Prince Imperial in Windsor Castle, a statue bust of the Prince Imperial at the Woolwich Academy, the Memorial to Lord Beaconsfield in the Guildhall, and busts of the same statesman in many London clubs; statue of William Spottiswoode in the Royal Institution, Lord Beaconsfield's statue bust for the Merchant Taylors' Company; presentation busts of the late Lord Mayors Sir T. Owden and Sir John Ellis; busts of Mr. Eliot Yorke, the late Mr. Whalley, M.P., Mr. George Payne, Lord Cottenham, Admiral Rous, Lord John Russell, Jabez Burns, Lord William Graham, Mrs. Wilkinson (the Bishop of Truro's late wife). Lord Shrewsbury, Dean Stanley, Sir George Beaumont, the Rev. Morley Punshon, Mr. Reginald Handbury, and Sir Richard Musgrave. Mr. Belt is now engaged upon busts of Lord Shaftesbury, for the Young Men's Christian Association; Mr. Alexander Yorke, Sir H. Selwyn Ibbetson, M.P., Lady Lewisham, the Hon. Mrs. Eliot, Mr. W. H. Gladstone, M.P., the Princess Frederica of Hanover, Mr. Howard Vincent, the Prince of Wales (for the Mansion House), Lord Baring, M.P., Mr. Edgar Vincent, the Dowager Duchess of Cleveland, Mr. George Hanbury; statuettes of the painters James Webb and John Varley; also Kyrle Bellew, the actor, and many others; a statue of Hypatia and the two Pageanti busts, the last one of these executed in the Court of Queen's Bench, Westminster. He is also erecting a memorial to Sir Henry Parker, in Lewisham Church; and one to the late Professor Evans, in the Ante-Chapel, Eton. Mr. Belt is the plaintiff in the well-known case of "Belt v. Lawes," which is still before the law courts.