Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales Going to St. Paul’s (1880) on Horace Jones's Temple Bar Memorial, London EC1. The inscription at the top of the relief reads, “Her most gracious majesty Queen Victoria and His Royal Highness Albert Edward Prince of Wales ” and continues below: “Going to St. Paul’s February 27 1872.”
The center of the relief showing the royal party with Queen Victoria second from the right in the carriage and Edward Prince of Wales the bearded man on the left. [Larger image of the royal party.] Note the little girl wearing what looks like a straw boater hat extending flowers toward the coach and the young boy at the right falling back against his father either in fear of the horse or to get a better view of the guardsman riding it.
[Click on these images to see larger pictures.] Left: The left side of the relief includes a sailor boy standing on a stone block inscribed “Elkington & Co. Founders,” and a similar block on the side right proclaims “C.S. Kelsey & Son Sculptors 1880.” Both ends of the piece show policeman in conflict with young boys: on the left a boy argues with a mounted bobby, and at the right a bobby, who turns back to look at the procession, has both hands on a young man while young men and women stand on bases of lampposts to get better views of the royal carriage. Kelsey fills his scene with genre details, such the young boy who has fallen or been knocked to his knees and lost his hat. He also provides the details of the columns, ogee arch, and drapery of the gothic structure through which the procession will enter the City of London.
Although this commemorative plaque in high relief places the royal family at its exact center, they in no way dominate the composition, which instead emphasizes the crowd's enthusiasm, the large number of young people present, and some small examples of disorder.
The Temple Bar Memorial, its sculpture, and related material
- The Temple Bar Memorial designed by Horace Jones
- Sir Christopher Wren's original Temple Bar as re-erected in Paternoster Square in 2004
- Time and Fortune Draw a Curtain Over Temple Bar by Charles Henry Mabey
- Queen Victoria's Progress to the Guildhall London Nov. 9th 1837 by Charles Henry Mabey
- Plaque marking the location of the original Temple Bar and the border of the City of London by Charles Henry Mabey
- Queen Victoria” by Sir Joseph Boehm
- Friezes on the Temple Bar Memorial
- Edward Prince of Wales by Sir Joseph Boehm
- Griffin by Charles Birch
Photographs by Robert Freidus. Formatting, perspective correction, and commentary by George P. Landow. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
“Charles J. Samuel Kelsey.” Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 181-191. University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Web. 3 June 2011.
Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Last modified 1 August 2011