Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/229

 us. m. MA. 25. mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Birmingham. In Victoria Square is a statue of Sir Robert Peel, the work of Mr. Peter Hollins of Birmingham. It cost about 2,OOOZ. On the front of the pedestal is inscribed :

PEEL

Publicly inaugurated.

on the 27th day of August A.T>. 1855.

John Palmer, Esquire, Mayor.

Close by is the statue of John Skirrow Wright, M.P., unveiled by John Bright in 1883. The pedestal contains the folio-wing lines :

John Skirrow Wright. Born February 2nd 1822 Died April 15th 1880.

In memory of the simplicity,

kindliness, and integrity of his'life,

and of his unselfish, untiring, and patriotic

devotion as a public man,

this monument is erected by the united gifts

of all classes in the town he loved

and for which he laboured.

June, 1883.

In the centre of Chamberlain Square stands the fountain commemorating the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., in- augurated in his presence in October, 1880. It was designed by Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, and is surmounted by an octagonal spire 65 feet high. In a niche in the centre of the main structure is a medallion of Mr. Chamberlain by Thos. Woolner, R.A. On the back is the following inscription :

This Memorial ,

is erected in gratitude

for public service

given to this town by

Joseph Chamberlain

who was elected Town Councillor in November 1869

Mayor in November 1873 and resigned that office in June 1876 on being returned as one of the representatives of the borough of

Birmingham in Parliament

and during whose Mayoralty

many great public works

were notably advanced

and mainly by whose ability and devotion

the gas and water undertakings

were acquired for the town

to the great and lasting benefit

of the inhabitants.

At the junction of Stephenson Place and New Street is a statue to Thomas Attwood, " the Father of Political Unions." It was sculptured by Mr. John Thomas, and in- augurated 6 June, 1859. The cost was about 1,OOOZ. On the pedestal is inscribed : Thomas Attwood | Founder of | the Birmingham
 * Political | Union.

Attwood died 6 March, 1856.

Northampton. In the presence of a crowd estimated at 20,000 people Mrs.

Bradlaugh-Bonner unveiled a statue to her father, Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, M.P., in Abington Square, on 25 June, 1894. Both the statue and the pedestal on which it stands are of terra-cotta. The work was placed in the hands of Messrs. Doulton & Co., and the statue was modelled by Mr. George Tinworth. Mr. Bradlaugh is represented standing, bare-headed, as in the act of speaking ; his left hand grasps a roll of paper and his right hand is raised with a cha- racteristic gesture. The front of the pedestal is thus inscribed : -

" Thorough."

Charles Bradlaugh,

Born Sept. 26, 1833,

Died Jany. 30, 1891.

M.P. for Northampton 1880-1891.

Four times elected to one

-Parliament in Vindication of

the Bights of Constituencies.

India, too, chose him her

Representative.

A sincere friend of the People,^, his life was devoted to Progress, Liberty and Justice/ 1 !

On the sides of the pedestal have recently been placed tablets containing the words of the Bradlaugh song, associated with his campaigns.

Exeter. Here, standing on a granite base is a white marble statue by Sir J. E. Boehm, R.A., of the first Earl of Iddesleigh. It was commenced during the Earl's lifetime, and erected in 1887, shortly after his death. It is inscribed :

Stafford Henry Northcote

Earl of Iddesleigh

1818-1887.

In the Public Park, Northernhay, is a white marble statue of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt., the work of Edward Bowring Stephens, A.R.A., a native of Exeter. It stands on a polished granite pedestal, on the front of which is inscribed

Thomas Dyke Acland Prsesenti tibi matures largimur honores. At the back is the following :

Erected as a tribute of affectionate respect for private worth and private integrity and in testimony of admiration for the generous heart and open hand which have been ever ready to protect the weak to relieve the needy and to succour the oppressed of whatever party race or creed, A.D. 1861.

Sir T. Dyke Acland lived ten years after the erection of his statue, his death taking place in 1871.

In Bedford Circus, facing the High Street, is a bronze statue (also by Stephens), on a granite base, of the eleventh Earl of Devon, known in the " West Countrie " as " the