The following information is from the 'Online Collections at University of Birmingham' website:
"ID number: BIRRC-A0009
Institution: Research and Cultural Collections
Named collection: Campus Collection of Fine and Decorative Art
Artist / Maker: Thorneycroft, Hamo
Title / Object name: Portrait bust of Sir James Timmins Chance
Object type: Sculpture
Place made: Europe: United Kingdom, West Midlands, Birmingham
Culture: British School
Date made: 1894
Materials: Marble on engraved oak plinth
Measurements: 53.34 cm; Base: 76.2 x 58.42 cm
Sir James was born in 1814, and graduated first from Trinity College Cambridge and then completed an MA at Oxford, focusing his studies on Mathematics. Circumstances unknown however meant that he had to interrupt his studies and return to his family's workshop in 1836. His family later developed their business into an outfit for manufacturing lighthouse lenses, a process in which Chance's education and innovation were integral. As well as being involved in his family's business, he was also a key public figure in the local community, holding the offices of high Sherriff of Staffordshire (1868) and Justice of the Peace for both Worcestershire and Staffordshire. He was integral to the establishment of the Chance School of Engineering at Birmingham University and was created 1st baronet Chance in June 1900. Hamo Thorneycroft was born to a family of sculptors in London in 1850. He was a member of the Royal Academy from 1882 and spent a large period of his working life recreating sculptural images in the idealised classical style."
(
visit link)
"Sir James was recognised as an engineering genius in the Midlands, nationally and Eminent scientists consulted him throughout his life, Sir G. B. Airy, the Astronomer Royal (1836-1881) and Michael Faraday regularly contacted James to help solve problems with lensed and prisms. Michael Faraday, during a four-day visit to the glassworks to confer with James stated: "of the subject of lenses and small mechanical devices, he is undoubtedly the foremost authority in the land."
(
visit link)
(
visit link)