NON-FICTION
BORN IN YORK in 1844, Milburn was the dominant stone and wood carver in the North-East of England for almost sixty years, the sculptor of choice for many Victorian and Edwardian architects such as George Edmund Street, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Charles Hodgson Fowler, Walter H. Brierley, and many others.
Once known simply as Milburn of York, his works now go unrecognised, even in his native city, overshadowed by –– or even attributed as –– the work of others.
In research spanning more than a decade, and with exclusive access to Milburn’s privately-held Work Books and Ledgers, Anthony Power has identified hundreds of Milburn’s works still existing. Milburn Found is the definitive catalogue of these extant works, with locations, carving details, and sources.
The book seeks to restore to Milburn the recognition he deserves, as an artist who contributed greatly to the public, private, and ecclesiastical heritage which enriched the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
“No architectural historian’s home should be without this publication.”
Edward Waterson, co-author of Lost Houses of County Durham.
***** A great book for sculpture enthusiasts.
“I cannot recommend this book enough … (I) found Tony Power’s meticulous research into this important craftsman utterly invaluable.”
Tabitha. Pevsner Buildings of England series editor
MILBURN IN YORK provides the details of the works of George Walker Milburn in the city where he spent almost his entire working life.
Here are the stories of the restoration of the South Transept of York Minster, for the architect George Edmund Street; the controversial choice of Milburn as the designer and sculptor of the George Leeman statue, and the enormous gamble he took to carve it; and the political squabble which banished a Queen’s statue to a public park.
Here, also, are the people who sought out Milburn’s artistry, and whose commissions were immortalised in wood or stone.
In a career spanning almost sixty years, Milburn left a remarkable legacy of carving in his native city, still visible, and long overdue recognition.
ALMOST TWO HUNDRED works of Milburn are to be found in the Yorkshire Ridings.
Milburn in the Ridings provides the background to these works.
Overcoming, at times, the objections of Archbishops, Diocesan Chancellors and Registrars, Milburn executed commissions for many of the leading architects of the Victorian and Edwardian eras –– such as Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Walter H. Brierley, and C. Hodgson Fowler –– and for the owners of some of Yorkshires’s great houses and institutions, such as Castle Howard, Carlton Towers, Ampleforth Abbey and others.
Illustrated with stunning photos of some of the works, Milburn in the Ridings, tells the stories underlying the works, in Yorkshire, of one of England’s most prolific carvers.
IN A CAREER lasting almost sixty years, the works of George Walker Milburn, York sculptor and carver outside his native Yorkshire, involved works in Scotland and Wales, France and Canada, eighteen Counties or Shires in England, and places as widely separated as Edinburgh, Newcastle, London, Bournemouth, and Toronto.
His reputation among many of the leading Victorian architects led to commissions for the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Glasgow City Council Chambers, the Spanish Church, London, and numerous buildings in Durham, Northumberland, and Newcastle-on-Tyne.
His carvings of the Armstrong cross at Rothbury, the Durham Light Infantry memorial cross at Durham, and the Bede cross at Sunderland, are some of his most important works, and amongst the few which are recognised as his. But carvings at St. George’s Church, Jesmond, St. Patrick’s Church, Felling, and many others, are unrecognised as his, or even ascribed to other carvers. Milburn Beyond Yorkshire tells the stories of these forgotten works.
A POLISH COUNT who spied for Russia … a railway magnate who was three times Lord Mayor of York … a Dickensian schoolmaster … a priest who braved an epidemic …
Just some of the characters whose funerary monuments were created by George Walker Milburn, the York sculptor and carver.
Find out how TB, Typhus, and Scarlet Fever ravaged nineteenth century England, and discover the delights of the Workhouse.
With vignettes on the creator of the Hansom cab, and the workings of Victorian Inquests, and the splendidly Victorian York Cemetery as its backdrop, this book uncovers the stories which lie beneath the stonework, and the triumphs and tragedies of daily life in Victorian York.
Copyright©2026 milburnbooks
All rights reserved