White, Robert

Epithet: composer; of Add MS 47844

Epithet: Engraver; of Sloane MS 179

Epithet: of Add MS 31390

Robert White was a contemporary of John Rae (1813-1893). He was part of the shipbuilding partnership John and Robert White.

Epithet: Bishop of Dumblane (1735)

Epithet: Engraver; of Add MS 34206

Epithet: of Add MS 41156

Epithet: of Add MS 22597

Epithet: of Chippenham in Burnham county Buckinghamshire

Epithet: tide-surveyor, Portsmouth

Epithet: of Farnham Surrey

Epithet: composer

Epithet: of Add Ch 46918

Epithet: Consul at Tripoli

Epithet: Prior of Royston, county Hertfordshire

Robert Winthrop White (1921-2002) lived and worked in St. James, New York. White was primarily known as a sculptor and educator.

He was the son of the architect, Lawrence Grant White (1887-1956) and Bessie Chanler White. Robert's grandfather, Stanford White (1853-1906) was one of the founding partners in the prominent New York City architectural firm, McKim, White, and Mead.

As a youth, Robert White studied woodcarving, sculpture, and painting in Munich, Germany. From 1938-1942, Robert White enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design, where his mentors were Walter Raemisch in sculpture and John Howard Benson in calligraphy. In World War II, White served in the United States Coast Guard and later worked in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In 1947, Robert White married Claire Nicolas, daughter of the painter and stained glass master, Joep Nicolas and the sculptor, Suzanne Nicolas.

Though Robert White was best-known for his sculptures, he was also a painter and illustrator. White was variously represented by Davis Gallery, Graham Gallery, and Graham Modern in New York City. His work was exhibited in galleries, public, and university museums in the United States and abroad: Artists Choice Museum, Benson Gallery, Hartwick College Museum, Rijksakademie Van Beeldende, and the Suffolk Museum and Carriage House. Robert White worked on a number of private and public commissions, including the American Battle Monuments Commission, Amyas Ames, the State University of New York, and William Styron, among others.

Robert White was on the faculty of several universities and schools including the Parsons School of Design, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. From 1967-1987, White was an associate professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Robert White's work can be viewed in the collections of the Boston Athenaeum, Civici Musei 3 Gallerie di Storia e Arte, Heckscher Museum, and the Rhode Island School of Design. In the course of his career, White was the recipient of many awards and prizes: the Laurel Gallery's "New Talent" exhibition prize in 1948, the Rome Prize by the American Academy in Rome, 1952-1954, and the National Academy of Design's Proctor Memorial Prize in 1962 and 1982. From 1952-1955, White was a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, where he also served as an artist-in-residence from 1969-1970. Robert White was a member in the Augustus Saint Gaudens Memorial, the Century Association, and the National Academy of Design.

Robert White continued to work on the family estate in St. James, New York until his death in 2002.

Robert White was born on the 26 October 1861 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882 he joined the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers. White served in the Nile Campaign (1884-1885) and was Aide-de-camp and Military Secretary in Cork District (1886-1889) and York District (1889-1891). After Staff College (1886-1889), White served as a Staff Officer with the Rhodesia Horse Regiment (1894) and as a Magistrate in Bechuanaland (1894). He served in the South African War in 1900 (Staff of 6th Division) and raised and commanded the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in August 1914. White also served in France (1915-1918) where, from 1916-1918, he served as Brigadier-General commanding 184 Infantry Brigade. He died on the 19 November 1936.

White took part in the Jameson Raid (1895-1896), an abortive raid on the Afrikaner republic of the Transvaal led by Leander Starr Jameson and instigated by Cecil John Rhodes. Before the raid White planned to leave his despatch-box, containing his diary and other personal papers, at Pitsani from which point he joined Jameson's main column. In his absence, and unbeknownst to him, code-books, confidential letters and telegrams were placed in his despatch-box by somebody else for convenience and the box was inadvertently taken with the baggage which accompanied the column. Many of these documents, together with extracts from White's diary, were afterwards published by the official committees on the Jameson Raid; were used at the trial of Jameson and his officers in London; and supplied an important part of the evidence on which the Reformers (members of the Reform Committee in Johannesburg) were convicted at Pretoria. White himself was charged with having taken his box of confidential papers into battle although he was subsequently exonerated.