William Zabez Muckley, RBA
Born at Wordsley, Kingswinford in Staffordshire, William Zabez Muckley was the eldest of seven children of Jabez Muckley a glass artisan.
He began his career as a glasscutter with W.H.B & J. Richardson of Wordsley and became their principal designer and engraver. When in 1852 the firm closed, William won one of only eight scholarship to join the Birmingham School of Art. He later went on to study in Paris and London.
Muckley was head of the Burslem School of Art for five years in the 1850s and later became headmaster of Wolverhampton School of Art and then principal of the Manchester School of Art. From 1859-1904 he exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institution and the Grosvenor Gallery.
He died at home in Essex in 1905.