Statue of Queen Victoria
| 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: | Warrior Square |
| Town: | Hastings |
| Parish: | Hastings |
| Council: | Hastings Borough Council |
| County: | East Sussex |
| Postcode: | TN37 |
| Location on Google Map | |
| Object setting: | Road or Wayside |
| Access is: | Public |
| Location note: | On the southern side of Warrior Square |
| In the AZ book: | East Sussex |
| Page: | 127 |
| Grid reference: | K7 |
| 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. | |
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Makers
| Name : | Francis John Williamson |
| Role: | Sculptor |
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General Information
| Construction period: | 1902 |
| Installation date: | 1902 |
| Unveiling date: | 31/12/1902 |
| Work is: | Extant |
| Owner custodian: | Hastings Borough Council |
| Object listing: | Grade II: of special interest warranting every effort to preserve them |
| Listing date: | 14/09/1976 |
| Description: | A bronze statue standing on a granite plinth facing the sea. Classical pose of Victoria - hands are crossed, the right hand holding a sceptre, the left holding on to her robes. |
| Signatures: | North west base of bronze statue:
F.J. WILLIAMSON. SC ESHER 1902 |
| Inscription: | VICTORIA R I 1837 - 1901 |
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Classification
| Categories: | Sculptural, Roadside / Wayside, Free Standing, Commemorative |
| Object type1: | Statue |
| Object type2: | Sculpture |
| Subject type1: | Figurative |
| Subject subtype1: | Full-length |
| Subject type2: | Portrait |
| Subject subtype1: | Standing |
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Object Parts
| Part 1: | Step below plinth |
| Material: | Pink Peterhead granite (unpolished) |
| Part 2: | First step |
| Material: | Sandstone |
| Part 3: | Statue |
| Material: | Bronze |
| Height (cm): | 206 |
| Width (cm): | 100 |
| Depth (cm): | 100 |
| Part 4: | Plinth |
| Material: | Pink Peterhead granite (polished) |
| Height (cm): | 234 |
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Object Condition
| Overall condition: | Good |
| Risk assessment: | No known risk |
| Condition 1 of type: | Surface |
| Condition 1: | Metallic staining |
| Condition 2: | Bird Guano |
| Condition 3: | Corrosion, Deterioration |
| More details: | There is minimal corrosion of the bronze in a few areas. The statue was treated and repainted in November 1964. |
| Condition 2 of type: | Structural |
| Condition 1: | Replaced parts |
| Condition 2: | Broken or missing parts |
| Condition 3: | Cracks, splits, breaks, holes |
| More details: | There is a hole in the bronze approximately 3cm across on the front lower part of her robes, near the knee. This was where the statue was hit by a bullet from an enemy bomber in WWII. There is a repair evident to a broken piece of the sandstone step on the north west corner. There are small chips to the polished granite plinth on some of the corners. |
| Date of on-site inspection: | 24/05/2007 |
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History
| History: | The unveiling of the statue was attended by large crowds in good weather. ‘A platform, 40 feet long by about 20 feet broad, was erected on the widened pavement in front of the statue. This was decorated with Venetian masts draped in crimson, from which depended strings of flags. The gaity of the scene was increased by many flags flying at Hastings Pier in the vicinity, and the Union Jack and White Ensign displayed alternately at the masts along the Sea Front’. The Mayor, the Marquis of Abergavenny and the rest of the party arrived at the statue in a procession of carriages. The Marquis had arrived earlier by train. Interestingly, although still only 1903, the newspaper comments that, ‘The ubiquitous camera was in evidence’, amongst the people lining the gardens in Warrior Square. On the approach of the carriages, the Corporation Band played, ‘The March of the Men of Harlech’, ‘All Through the Night’ and other Welsh airs, in compliment to the Marquis.
The Mayor called on the Deputy Mayor to open the proceedings and the Marquis was asked to pull the cord releasing the white covering over the statue. The National Anthem was then played. After a speech by the Marquis, the band played a further programme of music. A luncheon was served at the Eversfield Hotel. ‘The ceremony went through without a hitch – if we except a slight difficulty in getting the covering to fall from the statue at the psychological moment. A humorous incident of the unveiling was the interruption of the Borough Member’s speech by a dog, which leaped at him on the platform with many demonstrations of delight. The canine favourite went away in a carriage with Major Freeman-Thomas, the High Sheriff and Mrs. Burton’. The memorial committee had debated how to commemorate the passing of the Queen. It had been thought that some building or object, ‘...which might be beneficial to the poor, sick and suffering of the place’, would be more appropriate than a statue but cost implications prevented this both in terms of initial outlay and in subsequent annual maintenance costs. It was also felt that such a project would fail to, ‘...perpetuate the memory for all time of the great Queen they had lost’. When a statue had been decided on and the commission given to Williamson, the late Queen’s private sculptor, it was also hoped to transform Warrior Square Gardens with fountains, flower beds etc. but local landowners would only give up the small strip of land on which the statue was subsequently placed. The statue represents Queen Victoria at the time of her first Jubilee in 1887 and was modelled from sittings taken at Windsor Castle. The Queen had lent Williamson the jewels, robes etc. to model from. In the original statue from which the Hastings one was modelled, she was not holding the sceptre. The original statue, in marble, was placed in the Examination Hall of the College of Surgeons. Speaking of the original statue, Williamson said, ‘Since then I have executed many replicas. The first statue of Queen Victoria in Ireland is a replica of this in marble, in Londonderry. I have one in Rangoon, and have just sent one to Perth, Western Australia. There is one in King William’s Town, South Africa and another at Paisley, Scotland; another in Auckland, New Zealand; and I am now executing a colossal statue on exactly the same design for Christchurch, New Zealand’. Williamson was also in the process of creating three other replicas for the North West Province of India. At the time of this unveiling he stated, ‘This is the only town in Sussex in which I have anything’. (Hastings and St. Leonard’s Observer. Saturday 3 January 1903.) |
| Hard archive file: | Yes |
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References
| Source 1 : | |
| Title: | 'Statues and Memorials in Hastings and St. Leonards: a report on condition and conservation options' |
| Type: | Archive |
| Author: | Dinsmore, Jennifer. |
| Location: | Hastings Borough Council |
| Date: | 00/00/1997 |
| Page: | 11 |
| Publisher: | Hastings Museum and Art Gallery |
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Photographs
Date: 24/05/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |  Date: 24/05/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |
 Date: 24/05/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |  Date: 24/05/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |
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