1. STATUES AND MONUMENTS OF LONDON.
The Achilles, Hyde Park; bronze colossal statue by
Sir R. Westmacott, erected 1822, and "inscribed by the women of England to
Arthur, Duke of Wellington, and his brave companions in arms." Was cast
from twelve guns captured
at Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, and Waterloo.
Dr. Edmund Jenner, in Kensington Gardens, near the
bridge.
Queen Anne, statue of, Queen Square, Westminster.
Queen Anne, statue of, St. Paul's Churchyard,
erected in 1708, by Francis Bird, who received 250l. for it. The pedestal
is enriched with symbolic sculptures of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France.
Garth speaks of it satirically:
"Near the vast bulk of that
stupendous frame,
Known by the Gentiles' great
Apostle's name,
With grace divine great Anna's seen
to rise,
An awful form that glads a nation's
eyes!"
Duke of Bedford; a standing statue, in Russell
Square, by Sir R. Westmacott. Erected in 1809.
Lord George Bentinck, second son of the Duke of
Portland, and the leader of "the Protectionists," d. 1848. Standing
statue, by Campbell, in Cavendish Square.
George Canning, the great statesman. Bronze statue
in Palace Yard, by Sir R. Westmacott.
Major Cartwright, an early and able advocate of
parliamentary reform; bronze statue, by Clarke, in Burton Crescent.
Charles I., Charing Cross; an equestrian statue,
by Hubert de Soeur, a Frenchman, cast in 1633; the pedestal carved by Joshua
Marshall, master mason to the crown. After the execution of the king, the
parliament ordered the statue, which had not been erected, to be sold and broken
to pieces. But one John Rivet, a brazier, who purchased it, appears to have
anticipated the restoration of the monarchy, and concealed the royal effigy in
his garden near Holborn. In 1678 a pedestal was curved, and the statue set up in
its present position.
Charles II.; statue in Soho Square (originally
called King's Square), and statue (by Grinling Gibbons) in the quadrangle of
Chelsea Hospital.
Duke of Cumberland, the victor of Culloden; an
equestrian statue in Cavendish Square, erected in 1770.
Edward VI.; bronze statue in the court of St.
Thomas's Hospital, Southwark.
Charles James Fox, the statesman, and Pitt's great
rival. A. sitting statue in bronze, by Westmacott; erected in Bloomsbury Square
in 1816.
George I. When a statue of this monarch was placed
upon the steeple of Bloomsbury Church, the following epigram was circulated:
"No longer stand staring,
My friend, at Cross Charing,
Amidst such a number of people;
For a man on a horse
Is a matter of course,
But look, here's a king on a
steeple!"
George III.; a bronze statue, by M. C. Wyatt, erected in
1836, Cockspur Street, Pall Mall.
George IV.; equestrian statue, by Sir Francis
Chantrey, in Trafalgar Square.
Sir Thomas Gresham, statue of, by Behnes, on the
east tower of the Royal Exchange.
Thomas Guy; a bronze statue, by Scheemakers, of
the founder of Guy's hospital, where, in the open quadrangle, it is placed/
Major-Gen. Sir Henry Havelock, Bart.; statue in
bronze, in Trafalgar Square.
James II., Whitehall; a bronze statue, by Grinling
Gibbons, erected, in 1687, at the expense of Mr. Tobias Rustat, formerly a page
in the royal household.
Duke of Kent, Portland Place; a bronze statue, by
Gahagan.
The Monument, Fish Street Hill, London Bridge; a
fluted Doric column, by Sir Christopher Wren, erected to commemorate the great
fire of London, 1666. The bas-relief was carved by Gabriel Cibber; the four
dragons by Edward Pierce, at fifty guineas each. The whole cost 13,700l.,
and was erected in six years (1671-77). The height is 202 ft., and it stands 202
ft. from the house in Pudding Lane, where the fire originated. The staircase
inside numbers 365 steps. In 1831, the Common Council ordered the removal of the
offensive inscription which attributed the great fire to the malice of the
Papists, and suggested Pope's lines:
"Where London's column towering
to the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts its head and lies."
The fee for ascending the Monument is 3d. The cage- work
which protects the balcony was rendered necessary by the suicides of six
monomaniacs: Green, a weaver, 1750; Cradock, a baker, 1788; Levi, a Jew, 1810;
Moyes, a baker's daughter, 1839; Hawes, a boy, also in 1839; and a female of 17
years, in 1842; all of whom threw themselves off the Monument.
General Sir Charles Napier, bronze statue of, in
Trafalgar Square, executed by G. G. Adams, and erected in 1857.
The Nelson Column, Trafalgar Square, of Portland
stone, l45 ft. high, erected by public subscription in 1840-43, from designs by
Railton. The statue which surmounts it was executed by E. H. Baily, R.A. The
capital is of bronze, from French guns captured by the great Admiral, and is
adorned with four bas-reliefs: the Victory off Cape St. Vincent, by Watson; the
Bombardment of Copenhagen, by Ternouth; the Victory of the Nile, by Woodington;
and the Death of Nelson, by Carew. Four colossal lions, carved in granite, by
Sir E. Landseer, will surmount the four angles of the base as soon as completed.
Sir Robert Peel, the statesman; bronze statue, by
Behnes, erected 1851, Cheapside, near St. Paul's.
William Pitt, the "heaven-born
minister," Hanover Square. A bronze statue, by Chantrey, erected in 1831.
Queen Victoria, centre of the court of the Royal
Exchange. A statue in white marble, by Lough.
Duke of Wellington, statue of, Waterloo Barracks.
Duke of Wellington; equestrian statue in bronze,
by M. C. Wyatt; stands on the summit of the arch (designed by Decimus Burton,
1828) which forms the entrance to Constitution Hill, at Hyde Park Corner.
Duke of Wellington; equestrian statue in bronze,
in front of the Royal Exchange, executed by Sir Francis Chantrey.
William IV; equestrian statue in bronze, by the
two Bacons, père et fils; was finished temp. George II., but not erected
until 1808, in St. James's Square.
William IV., King William Street, London Bridge.
Richard Coeur-de-Lion, by Marochetti, Old Palace
Yard, Westminster.
The Westminster Memorial, to the officers educated at
Westminster School who tell in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny, faces the
Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, and was designed by G. G. Scott. The general
proportions are harmonious, and the accessories appropriate.
The Guards' Memorial, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall,
designed by Bell, and cast from cannon captured at Sebastopol. Erected to the
officers and men of the Guards who fell in the Crimea.
The York Column, Carlton House Gardens, 124 ft. high,
erected from Wyatt's designs in 1833. The bronze statue, by Westmacott, is 14
ft. high. The column is ascended by a spiral staircase. Open in summer from 10
to 4 p.m., and winter, 12 to 3 p.m.; admission, 6d.
Cruchley's London in 1865 : A Handbook for Strangers, 1865
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Statues. —
Unfortunately, London is not celebrated, although it may be notorious, for its
public statues. They are to be encountered in all quarters of the town, from
the melancholy effigy of Cobden in Camden Town, to the uncomfortable seated
figure of Peabody at the back of the Royal Exchange, or the still more forlorn
Dr. Jenner in Kensington-gardens. It is difficult to go very wrong with a simple
column, and as the statues which crown the York and Nelson columns are out of
the reach of inspection, these monuments are not without merit. At the foot of
the Nelson column are Sir Edwin Landseers four colossal lions, perhaps the most
artistic effigies in the streets of London. The equestrian statue of Richard
Coeur de Lion, by Baron Marochetti, in Palace-row, Westminster, and Sir
Gilbert Scott’s Crimean memorial to officers educated at Westminster School
which is to be found in Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, are well worthy of a
special visit. The curious history of the equestrian statue of Charles I., at
Charing. cross, gives it a peculiar interest quite apart from considerations of
art. The same cannot be said of the surprising statue of the Duke of Wellington
at Hyde-park-corner. The Guards’ Memorial at the foot of Waterloo-place is not
without a certain massive effect. The National Memorial to the Prince Consort in
Hyde-park should by all means be seen, if only as a warning that the expenditure
of vast sums of money does not necessarily lead to satisfactory results. There
is an almost grotesque Statue of Queen Anne, absurdly dwarfed by the great
west front of St. Paul’s Cathedral which is in so deplorable a state of repair
that it may be hoped that it will shortly be taken out of the unequal
competition with Sir Christopher Wren’s magnum opus. Wayfarers in the squares should by no means be tempted
to inspect the statues by which many of them are adorned, although the
accumulated smoke of years has happily, to a large extent, concealed the
sculptors’ intentions. The following are the principal open-air statues,
monuments, and memorials of the metropolis.
ACHILLES, Hyde-park.
ALBERT MEMORIAL, Kensingtomn-gore.
ANNE (QUEEN) Queen-square, Bloomsbury;
Queen-square-Westminster; and St.Paul’s, churchyard;
BEDFORD (DUKE OF), Russell-sq.
BENTINCK (LORD GEORGE), Cavendish-square.
BRUNEL, Victoria Embankment.
CANNING (GEO.), New Palace-yard.
CHARLES I., Charing-cross.
CHARLES II., Soho-square and Chelsea Hospital.
CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE, Victoria Embankment.
CLYDE (LORD), Waterloo-place.
COBDEN, Camden Town.
CORAM (CAPT.), Foundling Hos.
CUMBERLAND (DUKE OF), Cavendish-square.
EDWARD VI., Christ’s, St. Bartholomew’s, and St. Thomas’s Hospitals.
ELEANOR CROSS, Charing-cross railway-station.
FOX, Bloomsbury-square.
FRANKLIN (SIR J.), Waterloo-pl.
GEORGE III., Somerset House and Cockspur-street.
GEORGE IV., Trafalgar-square.
GUARDS’ MEMORIAL, Waterloo-pl.
GUT (THOMAS), Guy’s.Hospital.
HAVELOCK (GEN.), Trafalgar-sq.
HENRY VIII., St. Bartholomew’s.
JAMES II., Whitehall.
JENNER (DR.), Kensington-gdns.
KENT (DUKE OF), Portland-place.
MARBLE ARCH, Oxford-street.
MILL (J. S.), Victoria Embankment.
MONUMENT, Fish-street-hill.
MYDDLETON (SIR HUGH), Islington-green.
NAPIER (GENERAL SIR CHARLES), Trafalgar-square.
NELSON, Trafalgar-square.
OUTRAM (SIR J.), Victoria Embankment.
PALMERSTON (LORD), Palace-yd.
PAXTON (SIR J.), Crystal Palace.
PEABODY (GEO.),Royal Exchange.
PEEL. (SIR ROBERT), Cheapside.
PITT (WILLIAM), Hanover-square.
PRINCE CONSORT, Holborn. viaduct, Horticultural-gardens, and Albert Memorial.
RICHARD I., Old Palace-yard.
SHAKESPEARE, Leicester-square.
SLOANE (SIR HANS) Botanic-gardens, Chelsea.
VICTORIA(QUEEN), Rl. Exchange.
WELLINGTON, Hyde-park-corner, Tower-gr, and Royal Exchange.
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL CRIMEAN MEMORIAL, Broad Sanctuary.
WILLIAM III., St. James’s-square.
WILLIAM IV., King William-street.
YORK (DUKE OF), Carlton House-terrace.
Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879