Gladstone Memorial, London

Last updated

Gladstone Memorial, London
Statue of Gladstone, Strand, London.JPG
The memorial in front of St Clement Danes
Gladstone Memorial, London
Artist Hamo Thornycroft
Completion date1905
TypeStatue
MediumBronze
Subject William Ewart Gladstone
Dimensions3.4 m(11 ft)
Location
Coordinates 51°30′47″N0°06′52″W / 51.513°N 0.1145°W / 51.513; -0.1145
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameStatue of W E Gladstone on island in road, Strand, WC2
Designated24 February 1958
Reference no.1237098

The Gladstone Memorial on the Strand, London is a bronze sculpture of the British statesman, created by Hamo Thornycroft between 1899-1905. The statue was erected as the national memorial to Gladstone and shows him in the robes of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The figure stands on a plinth surrounded by allegorical figures depicting four of the Virtues, Courage, Brotherhood, Education and Aspiration. The memorial is a Grade II listed structure.

Contents

History

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) served four terms as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1868 and 1894. [1] One of outstanding political figures of Victorian England, he sought to reform the electoral franchise through the Representation of the People Act 1884 and the introduction of secret ballots; [2] pursued free trade [3] and attempted to "pacify Ireland" through Home Rule. [4] Although personally opposed to imperial expansion, his terms of office saw major foreign engagements including the death of General Gordon at Khartoum, [5] the Mahdist War and the outbreak of the First Boer War. [6]

Following Gladstone’s death in 1898, a committee was established to raise funds for a national memorial. [7] The commission was given to Hamo Thornycroft. [8] Born into a family of sculptors, by the 1880s Thornycroft had established his own reputation as a distinguished artist. [9] He had already received commissions for commemorative sculptures around Westminster, including statues of Oliver Cromwell, outside the House of Commons, [10] and General Gordon in Trafalgar Square. [lower-alpha 1] [12] The commission took Thornycroft six years and the statue was not finally unveiled until 1906. [13] The unveiling ceremony was conducted by John Morley, a member of Gladstone's Cabinets and his biographer. [14] The cost was £8,000. [14]

Reception

The critic Edmund Gosse wrote to congratulate Thornycroft after the memorial's completion; "It is so dignified, so solid and the head so magnificent,; you have got that look of frenzy in the eye that all his best portraits have". [lower-alpha 2] [14] Simon Bradley, in the 2003 revised version London 6: Westminster of the Pevsner Buildings of England series, describes the statue as a "fine, robed figure". [13] The sculpture is a Grade II listed structure. [15]

Description

The statue is executed in bronze [16] and is 3.35 metres (11.0 ft) high. [13] It stands on a plinth of Portland stone by John Lee. [13] Gladstone is depicted in the robes of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. [lower-alpha 3] An inscription on the front of the plinth reads "GLADSTONE 1809-1898". [7] Allegorical statues of women, mostly with children, [18] surround the base, representing four of the Virtues, Courage, Brotherhood, Education and Aspiration. [13]

Setting

The memorial stands at the east end of the Strand, in front of the Church of St Clement Danes. It was originally encircled by the roadway, but is now in a pedestrianised plaza. The plaza also has late-20th century sculptures of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, and Marshall of the Royal Air Force Arthur Harris, [13] St Clement's being the Royal Air Force church. [19]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The statue of Gordon was moved to safety at Mentmore Towers during the Second World War, and was re-sited in Victoria Embankment Gardens in the 1950s. [11]
  2. ↑ Gosse's letter continued; “It always seems to me that if Gladstone had ever had the leisure to take up madness as a profession, he might have been a first class lunatic". [14]
  3. ↑ Gladstone served four terms as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the latter two while also holding the office of Prime Minister. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamo Thornycroft</span> English sculptor (1850–1925)

Sir William Hamo Thornycroft was an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster. He was a keen student of classical sculpture and was one of the youngest artists to be elected to the Royal Academy, in 1882, the same year the bronze cast of Teucer was purchased for the British nation under the auspices of the Chantrey Bequest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John's Gardens, Liverpool</span> Open space in Liverpool, England

St John's Gardens is an open space in Liverpool, England, to the west of St George's Hall. The gardens are part of the William Brown Street conservation area, and comprise one of the two open spaces within Liverpool's World Heritage Site. It has been a Green Flag site since 2003. The gardens contain ornamental flower beds, and memorials to notable people of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Brock</span> British artist (1847–1922)

Sir Thomas Brock was an English sculptor and medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His most famous work is the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London. Other commissions included the redesign of the effigy of Queen Victoria on British coinage, the massive bronze equestrian statue of Edward, the Black Prince, in City Square, Leeds and the completion of the statue of Prince Albert on the Albert Memorial.

<i>Boadicea and Her Daughters</i> Sculptural group in Westminster, London

Boadicea and Her Daughters is a bronze sculptural group in London representing Boudica, queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe, who led an uprising in Roman Britain. It is located to the north side of the western end of Westminster Bridge, near Portcullis House and Westminster Pier, facing Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster across the road. It is considered the magnum opus of its sculptor, the English artist and engineer Thomas Thornycroft. Thornycroft worked on it from 1856 until shortly before his death in 1885, sometimes assisted by his son William Hamo Thornycroft, but it was not erected in its current position until 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Victoria Memorial, Lancaster</span> Memorial in Lancaster, England

The Queen Victoria Memorial in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, is a Grade II* listed building. It stands in the centre of Dalton Square, Lancaster facing Lancaster Town Hall. It was erected in 1906, being commissioned and paid for by James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch, London</span> Sculpture in Grosvenor Gardens, London

The equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch stands in Lower Grosvenor Gardens, London. The sculptor was Georges Malissard and the statue is a replica of another raised in Cassel, France. Foch, appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces on the Western Front in the Spring of 1918, was widely seen as the architect of Germany's ultimate defeat and surrender in November 1918. Among many other honours, he was made an honorary Field marshal in the British Army, the only French military commander to receive such a distinction. Following Foch's death in March 1929, a campaign was launched to erect a statue in London in his memory. The Foch Memorial Committee chose Malissard as the sculptor, who produced a replica of his 1928 statue of Foch at Cassel. The statue was unveiled by the Prince of Wales on 5 June 1930. Designated a Grade II listed structure in 1958, the statue's status was raised to Grade II* in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of William III, London</span> Statue in St Jamess Square, London

The equestrian statue of William III by John Bacon Junior stands in St James's Square in central London. It is modelled on an earlier statue of the king by John Michael Rysbrack in Queen Square, Bristol. Funding for the London statue was provided in the will of Samuel Travers, M.P., dated 1724, but nothing was done to progress the plan for a further seventy years. A design for the monument was drawn up in 1794 by Bacon's father, John Bacon Senior, but this was not executed and the commission passed to Bacon Jr., under whose direction the statue was finally erected in 1808. The statue is a Grade I listed structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Charles II, Royal Hospital Chelsea</span> Statue in London by Grinling Gibbons

The statue of Charles II stands in the Figure, or Middle, Court of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London. The sculptor was Grinling Gibbons, and the statue was executed around 1680–1682. The king founded the Royal Hospital in 1682 as a home for retired army veterans. The statue is a Grade I listed structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Robert Clayton</span> Sculpture by Grinling Gibbons

The statue of Robert Clayton stands at the entrance to the North Wing of St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London. The sculptor was Grinling Gibbons, and the statue was executed around 1700–1714. Sir Robert was a banker, politician and Lord Mayor of London. As President of St Thomas', he was responsible for the complete rebuilding of the hospital, and associated church in the late 17th century. The statue was designated a Grade I listed structure in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Charles James Fox</span> Statue in London by Richard Westmacott

The statue of Charles James Fox stands at the north end of Bloomsbury Square in the London borough of Camden. Erected in 1816, the sculptor was Richard Westmacott. It commemorates the Whig politician who died in 1806. Fox is shown in the garb of a Roman senator. The statue is a Grade II* listed structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of General Gordon</span> Statue by Hamo Thornycroft in London

A bronze statue of General Charles George Gordon by Hamo Thornycroft stands on a stone plinth in the Victoria Embankment Gardens in London. It has been Grade II listed since 1970. A similar statue stands at Gordon Reserve, near Parliament House in Melbourne, Australia, on its original tall plinth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr Barnardo's Memorial</span> Public sculpture by George Frampton

The Memorial to Dr Barnardo by George Frampton, at Barkingside in the London Borough of Redbridge, commemorates the founder of the Barnardo's children's charity. Born in Dublin into a Sephardic Jewish family, Thomas John Barnardo moved to the East End of London in 1866 where he established a chain of orphanages that developed into the Barnardo's charity. He died in 1905 and, in a move unusual for the time, was cremated; his ashes were interred in front of Cairn's House, the original building of his Barkingside children's village. In 1908, a memorial was raised on the site, the sculpture being undertaken by George Frampton, who worked without a fee. The memorial was designated a Grade II listed structure in 1979 and upgraded to II* in 2010.

<i>Gorilla</i> (sculpture) Sculpture of Guy the Gorilla, Crystal Palace Park, London

The Gorilla sculpture by David Wynne stands beside the Lower Lake in Crystal Palace Park, in Bromley in south-east London. Completed in 1961 and installed in 1962, the black marble sculpture depicts Guy the Gorilla, a western lowland gorilla brought from West Africa to London Zoo in 1947. It became a Grade II listed structure in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Sullivan Memorial</span> Memorial in London

The Memorial to Arthur Sullivan by William Goscombe John stands in Victoria Embankment Gardens in the centre of London. It was designated a Grade II listed structure in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Clement Attlee</span> Statue in Mile End, London

The statue of Clement Attlee on the Mile End campus of Queen Mary University of London is a bronze sculpture of the British Prime Minister, created by Frank Forster in 1988. The statue was commissioned by the Greater London Council and was intended to stand in Mile End Park. By the time of its completion in 1988, the GLC had been abolished and the statue was offered to any successor authority willing to pay the relocation costs. These were met by Tower Hamlets London Borough Council and the statue was erected outside the Limehouse Public Library to commemorate Attlee's role as the member for the Limehouse parliamentary constituency. The opening ceremony was carried out by Harold Wilson, the last living member of Attlee's 1945-51 administration. By the 21st century, the statue had been badly vandalised and was boarded up. In 2010, Tower Hamlets Council offered the statue to Queen Mary University of London on permanent loan. It was re-erected on a site at the Mile End Road campus, next to the People's Palace where Attlee had attended the vote counting in the 1945 general election and learnt of the victory which brought in his peace-time government.

References

  1. ↑ "History of William Ewart Gladstone". www.gov.uk. UK Government. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  2. ↑ "Gladstone's Parliamentary Record 1868-1900". Liberal History. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "Gladstonian Liberalism". Liberal History. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "Two home rule Bills". www.parliament.uk. UK Government. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  5. ↑ Kirby, Terry (11 May 2006). "Britain's colonial adventures: The truth about Gordon of Khartoum". The Independent.
  6. ↑ "The Boer Wars". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  7. 1 2 Darke 1991, p. 50.
  8. ↑ Blackwood 1989, p. 204.
  9. ↑ "Sir William Hamo Thornycroft RA". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951 database. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  10. ↑ Blackwood 1989, p. 208.
  11. ↑ Historic England. "Statue of General Gordon (Grade II) (1066175)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  12. ↑ Blackwood 1989, p. 268.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bradley & Pevsner 2003, p. 291.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Blackwood 1989, p. 206.
  15. ↑ Historic England. "Statue of W E Gladstone on island in road, Strand, WC2 (Grade II) (1237098)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  16. ↑ "W E Gladstone Monument". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  17. ↑ "Blue Plaques: William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898)". English Heritage. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  18. ↑ "Gladstone statue: The Strand". London Remembers. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  19. ↑ Bradley & Pevsner 2003, p. 289.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.