Statue of W E Gladstone on island in road, Strand, WC2
Designated
24 February 1958
Reference no.
1237098
The Gladstone Memorial on the Strand, London is a bronzesculpture 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.
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.[a][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".[b][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.[c] 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]
^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]
^Gladstone served four terms as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the latter two while also holding the office of Prime Minister.[17]
^"Sir William Hamo Thornycroft RA". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951 database. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
