Statues in London

10 London memorials commemorating foreign leaders – 7. Mahatma Gandhi…

by exploringlondon
PICTURE: Alvesgaspar (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

There’s a couple of statues commemorating Mahatma Gandhi in London with the most recent one was unveiled in Parliament Square in 2015.

But this week we head Bloomsbury where we find an older one in the centre of the gardens in Tavistock Square.

The work of Fredda Brilliant, it was unveiled by then Prime Minister Harold Wilson in May, 1968. Also present was the first High Commissioner of India to the UK after independence, VK Krishna Menon, and the then-current High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, Shanti Swaroop Dhavan.

Menon apparently chose the location for the statue – Gandhi had studied at the nearby University College London between 1888 and 1891.

Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1948 after having playing an instrumental role in the push for India’s independence, is depicted sitting in a cross-legged in the lotus position wearing a loincloth with a shawl over his right shoulder. The statue sits atop a rounded Portland stone plinth.

The memorial was erected by the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Committee, with the support of the India League. It was Grade II-listed in 1974.

A further plaque was added beneath the statue in 1996 commemorating the 125th anniversary of the birth of Gandhi.

10 (lesser known) memorials to women in London – 2. Margaret Ethel MacDonald…

by exploringlondon

Located on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, this rather elaborate monument commemorates Margaret Ethel MacDonald (1870-1911), wife of the first British Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, a noted feminist and social activist.

The Grade II-listed monument, which was unveiled in December, 1914 – three years after her death (which occurred before her husband became PM), stands not far from the flat where she lived with her husband and their children at Number 3.

It features a granite seat atop which is a bronze group of sculptures of nine children gathered around the kneeling MacDonald – the work of Richard Goulden. At the top of the seat – just below the sculptures, is a dedication to MacDonald “who spent her life in helping others”.

On the rear is a plaque containing biographical details and further dedication ending with the words that she “took no rest from doing good”.

PICTURE: mapa mundi (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)