Object Details

Monument to Captain Percy Burrell

Browse information by:
Location
Makers
General Information
Classification
Object Parts
Object Condition
History
References
Photographs


Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright for Photograph:

Creative Commons

Location

Street:Church Platt
Town:Cuckfield
Parish:Cuckfield
Council:Mid Sussex District Council
County:West Sussex
Postcode:RH17
Location on Google Map
Object setting:Inside building
and in:Religious
Access is:Public
Location note:Parish Church of Holy Trinity
In the AZ book:West Sussex
Page:71
Grid reference:N4
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.
OS Reference:TQ303245

back to top

Makers

Name : John Bacon (the younger)
     Role:Sculptor

back to top

General Information

Commissioned by: Two surviving brothers of Percy Burrell
Construction period:1810
Installation date:1810
Work is:Extant
Owner custodian:Parish Church of Holy Trinity. Cuckfield.
Object listing:Not known
Description:A sculptural relief of three male figures set upon a large rectangular base that holds an inscribed panel. Atop the whole structure sits an urn in relief and underneath the inscribed panel is a wreathed coat of arms in relief. The figures depict a scene from the assault on Buenos Aires in 1807. One figure lies dead face down on the ground. Another, is on one knee supporting the dying/dead figure of Percy Burrell in his arms.
Signatures:Bottom right of the monument:
J, BACON, Junr. Sculptor,
LONDON, 1810.
Inscription:Integral plaque underneath the figures, carved letters, painted black:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF PERCY BURRELL. / CAPTAIN IN THE SIXTH REGIMENT OF DRAGOON – GUARDS, / FOURTH SON OF SIR WILLIAM BURRELL BART. OF KNEPP IN THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX. / AND SOPHIA ELDEST DAUGHTER OF SIR CHARLES RAYMOND BART. / THIS GALLANT OFFICER WAS BORN ON THE 5TH OF JULY 1779, / AND AT THE ILLCONCERTED AND FATAL ATTACK ON BUENOS-AYRES ON THE 5TH OF JULY 1807, / AFFORDED AN EXAMPLE OF THAT SELF DEVOTION, SO FREQUENT IN THE MILITARY ANNALS / OF HIS COUNTRY: FOR WHILST LEADING THE COLUMN OF DISMOUNTED CAVALRY / AFTER THE UNTIMELY FALL OF HIS SUPERIOR OFFICER LT. COL. KINGTON. AND / WHILST IN THE ACT OF ENCOURAGING BY HIS INTREPID EXAMPLE / THE EXERTIONS OF HIS MEN, WHO WERE EXPOSED TO A MOST DESTRUCTIVE FIRE, / HE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED BY A MUSKET SHOT. / THUS FELL IN THE CAREER OF HONOR AND THE PRIME OF LIFE, / THIS BRAVE AND ACCOMPLISHED GENTLEMAN, REGRETTED AND LAMENTED / BY ALL WHO KNEW THE EXCELLENT QUALITIES OF HIS HEART AND MIND. / AND BY NONE MORE TRULY THAN HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS. / HIS TWO SURVIVING BROTHERS HAVE CAUSED THIS MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED. / AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT TO DEPARTED WORTH. / AND A MOURNFUL TESTIMONY OF THEIR FRATERNAL AFFECTION.

back to top

Classification

Categories:Sculptural, Funerary, Composite, Commemorative
Object type1:Sculpture
Object type2:Relief
Subject type1:Pictorial
     Subject subtype1:Reclining
Subject type2:Figurative
     Subject subtype1:Group
Subject type3:Portrait
     Subject subtype1:Reclining

back to top

Object Parts

Part 1:Whole structure
     Material:White and grey marble
     Height (cm):300
     Width (cm):155
     Depth (cm):17

back to top

Object Condition

Overall condition:Good
Risk assessment:No known risk
Condition 1 of type:Structural
     Condition 1: Broken or missing parts
     Condition 2: Cracks, splits, breaks, holes
     More details:Small chip out of the marble to the right of Bacon's signature. The crest at the base of the monument is cracked across its full width.
Date of on-site inspection:21/12/2007

back to top

History

History:'The British invasions of the Río de la Plata were a series of unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of the Spanish colonies located around the La Plata Basin in South America. The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of France.
The invasions were in two phases. A detachment from the British Army occupied Buenos Aires for 46 days in 1806 before being expelled. In 1807, a second force occupied Montevideo, following the Battle of Montevideo (1807), remaining for several months, and a third force made a second attempt to take Buenos Aires. After several days of street-fighting against the local militia in which half of the British forces in Buenos Aires were killed or wounded, the British were forced to withdraw.
The resistance of the local people and their active participation in the defence, with no support from the Spanish Kingdom, were important steps toward the May Revolution in 1810, and the Argentine Declaration of Independence in 1816.'
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_invasions_of_the_R%C3%ADo_de_la_Plata Accessed 03/01/2008)

back to top

References


back to top

Photographs





Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons

back to top