Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lough, John Graham
LOUGH, JOHN GRAHAM (1806–1876), sculptor, born in 1806, was son of a small farmer at Greenhead, near Hexham in Northumberland. He was apprenticed to a stonemason named Marshall, and afterwards worked as an ornamental sculptor and builder at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Through the friendship of the captain of a collier Lough obtained a free passage to London. Here he studied the Elgin marbles at the British Museum, and was befriended by the painter B. R. Haydon [q. v.]
In 1826 Lough exhibited a bas-relief, ‘The Death of Turnus,’ at the Royal Academy, and obtaining a commission from the Duke of Wellington, produced two statues for him, ‘Milo’ and ‘Samson.’ In 1827 Lough held an exhibition of his works in London, which attracted some attention, mainly through the efforts of Haydon. He sent a striking group, ‘Duncan's Horses,’ to the Royal Academy in 1832, and in 1834 went to Rome, where he studied for four years. On his return he found plenty of employment, and executed some important works, such as the statue of the queen in the Royal Exchange (1845), that of the prince consort at Lloyd's (1847), the colossal statue of the Marquis of Hastings at Malta (1848), the colossal bronze statue of George Stephenson at Newcastle, the monument to Southey in Keswick Church, and other important monuments or portrait busts and statues. He was given in the first instance the commission to execute the lions at the base of Nelson's monument in Trafalgar Square. Lough was patronised by his fellow-countryman Sir Matthew White Ridley, and by Mr. Mitchell Henry of Stratheden House, Rutland Gate, London, both of whom possess many works by him. Seven of his statues were at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and were favourably noticed at the time. Lough worked in a broad, powerful, and energetic style; but owing to lack of refinement his works have not sustained their original reputation. He was a familiar figure in the society of the day.
Lough married a sister of Sir James Paget, the surgeon, and died of bronchitis at his residence, 42 Harewood Square, London, on 8 April 1876.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Times, 12 April 1876; Clement and Hutton's Artists of the Nineteenth Century; Men of the Reign; information from George Scharf, esq., C.B., F.S.A.]