The Byron Society in the UK has been working hard on a project to rescue one of London’s neglected and forgotten gems, the Byron Memorial Statue.
Thanks to generous support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Heritage of London Trust, together with many private donors and supporters from across the world, the project can now go ahead.
Erected in 1880, its original garden setting in Hamilton Gardens, then part of Hyde Park, gave the memorial prominence and public access. Because of changes made to the Park Lane traffic layout in the course of the 20th century, the statue is now marooned on a traffic island and all but inaccessible.
It has been waiting for a long time to be restored and relocated. This has now become a matter of urgency because it has deteriorated badly over the last fifty years and there is no maintenance regime where the statue is at present. Following a long campaign and much lobbying, the Royal Parks have offered us a new high profile location near Hyde Park’s Victoria Gate that is publicly accessible so we can all enjoy it.
Apart from saving the heritage and making the memorial accessible in Hyde Park at the new location, the project also aims to increase public engagement with Byron by other means, such as enabling online access for international audiences by way of a virtual tour. Amongst other activities, there will be digital learning resources aimed at GCSE and A-level students and a ‘Byron in London’ walking tour. On the ground, the Heritage of London Trust will be delivering visits and creative workshops with their youth engagement programme Proud Places, which introduces young people across London to their local heritage.
In the longer term, The Royal Parks will include the memorial in its interpretation programme aimed at the general public. The current Lord Byron, President of the Byron Society, said: “We are absolutely thrilled and immensely grateful to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and all lottery players who are helping us rescue Byron and put him back to where he can be appreciated.”
More on the statue
Victorian admirers of Byron, including novelists and poets like Disraeli (who became chairman of the appeal committee when Prime Minister), Tennyson, Longfellow, Wilkie Collins, Swinburne, and Matthew Arnold in addition to many other luminaries, waged a long campaign for the creation of a national memorial to Byron. Finally, after a lengthy process, their project finally came to fruition in 1880, with the Hyde Park site granted by Queen Victoria herself.
The statue is made of bronze by sculptor Richard Claude Belt (26.06.1851 – 17.11.1920), and sits on an inscribed Greek red and white marble (Rosso Antico) pedestal. It was inspired by a line from Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: “To sit on rocks and muse o’er flood and fell” and Byron is depicted with his beloved Newfoundland dog Boatswain (Bo’sun), at his side, a symbol for all Byron’s dogs which meant so much to him. The marble of the pedestal was a gift from the Greek Government in gratitude for Byron’s assistance to the Greeks in their struggle for independence. The pedestal is inscribed “Erected by Public Subscription”.
How the statue could look in its proposed new location
For a history of the statue see Professor Tom Mole’s recent publication, What the Victorians Made of Romanticism (Princeton University Press, 2017). Richard Edgcumbe, the chief instigator of plans for a new memorial to Byron, started modestly, considering only a marble slab over Byron’s grave in Hucknall parish church. However, once Disraeli got involved it was clear that a more ambitious plan was required.
In his History of the Byron Memorial, Edgcumbe emphasised that Disraeli wanted ‘a really national memorial’ and as Professor Mole points out there was an important democratic element to the project.
Edgcumbe explained that he could have raised sufficient funds from private donors but arranged to hold meetings in Manchester, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Plymouth, Liverpool and Birmingham so that the whole country could “take part in the work of doing honour” to Byron.
