Henry Scheemakers (birth name: Hendrik Scheemaekers) (Flanders c.1686 - Paris, 18 July 1748) was a Flemish-born sculptor who worked in England and France in the first half of the 18th century. Henry was elder brother to the better known (in England) Peter Scheemakers the Younger, with whom he collaborated on some projects. Henry's younger son Thomas-Henry took on his uncle Peter the Younger's workshop in Vine Street after Peter retired in the 1770s. Life Henry Scheemakers, or Hendrik Scheemaekers in Flemish records, was the eldest son of Antwerp sculptor Pieter Scheemaeckers and his wife Catharina van der Hulst (d.1712). Birth, Parents and Siblings His birthdate is unknown but Hendrik Scheemaekers was born around 1686. Hendrik may have been named after the Antwerp sculptor Hendrik Frans Verbrugghen or Verbruggen, who had married Susanna Verhulst in 1682. Henry's younger siblings were Catharina baptised 1 October 1688 (died young), Pieter-Caspar baptised 10 January 1691, Elisabeth baptised 6 July 1693 (still living in 1771), Jan-Frans baptised 2 February 1696 (ditto), and another Catharina baptised 20 March 1698 (died before 1771 leaving one daughter), all at the St Jacobskerk in Antwerp. His parents' marriage had ended in an acrimonious divorce in 1707. Testimony by multiple witnesses during the divorce procedure of 2 July 1708 attested to the awful behaviour of the father Pieter, who mistreated and beat his wife and children calling them 'pigs' and flew into drunken rages during which he destroyed their home. Hendrik's younger brother Pieter-Caspar known as Peter Scheemakers the Younger (1691-1781) also became a sculptor, as did both of Hendrik's sons : Pierre Scheemackers in Paris, and Thomas-Henry known as Thomas Scheemakers in London. Henry Scheemakers initially learned his art from his father, but is said by French sources to have gone to Copenhagen as a journeyman to his near-contemporary Johann Adam Sturmberg, where his younger brother Peter Scheemakers the younger later joined him c.1718-1720. The London Years Brother Peter Scheemakers had arrived in England by around 1720, going into loose partnership with Gent-born sculptor Laurent Delvaux, especially following the early death of Antwerp-born Pierre-Denis Plumier around mid-1721. The year of Henry's arrival in London is less clear. He was established as a sculptor by 1726, when "Hen. Scheemakers, Statuary" of St Margaret's Westminster took on apprentice John van Nost the younger, nephew (but entered as son) of the Flemish sculptor Jan van Nost, Henry being of the parish of