Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/345

 us. XIL OCT. so, i9i5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

337

a scroll. The statue is sculptured in marble, bv Messrs. W. & T. Wills of London ; it is 8 ft. high, and stands on a pedestal of fine Cornish granite 10 ft. high. The cost of the work was about 800Z., and it was un- veiled by the Mayor, Mr. A. S. Thomson, on 1 1 Oct., 1883. On the front ot the pedestal is simply inscribed :

Sir Thomas White.

Leicester. One of the four statues occupy- ing the angles at the base of the Clock Tower in the Market- Place represents Sir Thomas White. The tower was erected by public subscription at a cost of 1,200Z. It is in the Decorated Gothic style, and stands about 70 ft. high. The subjects of the three other statues are Simon de Montfort, William of Wiggeston, and Alderman Newton.

See also US. viii. 357.

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.

Hull. One of the most conspicuous objects in the town is the Doric column standing at the end of Whitefriar Gate, near the Junction Dock. It is 80 ft. high, and has at the summit a colossal statue of Wilberforce. The building was com- menced in 1834, and it was inaugurated 12 Nov., 1835. Another statue of Wilber- force by Kevworth was placed in the Town Hall, 15 Jan., 1884. Wilberforce was born at Hull, 24 Aug., 1759, and in the High Street still stands the house of his nativity.

Keston, Kent. At Holwood, formerly the residence of William Pitt, stands a tree known as the Emancipation Oak. Beneath its shade Pitt and Wilberforce discussed their plans for the abolition of the slave trade. Here a stone seat has since been placed by Earl Stanhope, inscribed with the following lines from Wilberforce's Diary :

1788. At length, I well remember, after a conversation with Mr. Pitt in the open air at Holwood, just above the steep descent into the Vale of Keston, I resolved to give notice on a fit occasion in the House of Commons of my intention to bring forward the abolition of the slave trade.

Westminster. William Wilberforce was buried in the north transept of Westminster Abbey. His statue by S. Joseph is placed in the north aisle of the choir, and represents him seated, apparently lost in thought, and with his right hand grasping a closed book. One critic describes the statue as " rather more in the spirit of caricature than of sculpture," and another as " perhaps the most characteristic modern statue in the Abbey." From the lengthy inscription on

the pedestal the following sentences are taken :

Eminent as he was in every department of public labour, and a leader in every work of charity, whether to relieve the temporal or spiritual wants of his fellow men, his name will ever be specially identified with those exertions which, by the blessing of God, removed from England the guilt of the African Slave Trade, and prepared the way for the abolition of Slavery in every colony in the Empire ....

The Peers and Commons of England, with the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker at their head, in solemn procession from their respective Houses, carried him to his fitting place among^. the mighty dead around.

THOMAS CLARKSON.

Wisbech. In the centre of the open* space near the bridge foot a memorial to Clarkson was erected in 1880-81. The first stone was laid on 28 Oct., 1880, and the monument was unveiled by the Right Hon. H. B. W. Brand, Speaker of the House of Commons (afterwards Lord Hampden), on 10 Nov., 1881. It was one of the last designs - of Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A., who died before its completion. The work was finished by his son Mr. J. Oldrid Scott at a cost of 2,033L It consists of a statue of Clarkson a little over life-size, standing upon a lofty square pedestal. Over it rises to a height of some 70ft. an arched canopy, terminating in a pierced and crocketed spire surmounted by a cross. On three sides of the pedestal are^ bas-reliefs representing Wm. Wilberforce,. Granville Sharpe, and ' The Suppliant,' the figure of a manacled negro-slave beseech- ing help, having beneath it the words, " Re- member them that are in bonds." On the- remaining side is the laconic inscription :

Clarkson, born at Wisbech, 1760, and the date of erection 1880.

Wadesmill, Herts. Beside the road out- side the village is a monument consisting of a tapering shaft raised on a square pedestal, approached by two steps. It is. thus inscribed :

On the spot where stands this

Monument, in the month of June,

1785, Thomas Clarkson

resolved

to devote his life to bringing about the

abolition of the Slave Trade.

Placed here by Arthur Giles Puller,, of Youngsbury, October 9, 1879.

See 7 S. iii. 463.