b London, 27 July 1852;
d London, 23 Dec 1901.
English sculptor. He studied painting briefly in Antwerp and Munich before turning to sculpture in 1870. Although never officially attached to any one studio or school, he studied and worked as a sculptor in Munich for five years, sharing a studio with Edwin Roscoe Mullins (1848–1907). Returning to London in 1875, Ford set up as a portrait sculptor in marble and terracotta but did not receive his first public commission until 1881. This was the bronze monumental statue of Sir Rowland Hill, now standing in King Edward Street, London, in which his modelling brings life to the surfaces of an otherwise orthodox exercise. During these early years in England Ford displayed a taste for realism, encouraged by the work of Jules-Aimé Dalou and also taken up by William Hamo Thornycroft. The conventional appearance of his first works, however, may be due to his early dependence upon professional assistants.

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