Queen Victoria - Leeds, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 48.667 W 001° 33.469
30U E 594958 N 5963470
This statue was erected by public subscription to commemorate Queen Victoria after shed died in 1901.
Waymark Code: WMV8A7
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/13/2017
Views: 0
The Statue
This statue and ones of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel once stood outside the town hall in Leeds city centre and were moved to this park when the square outside the town hall was redesigned in 1937.
An information board in front of the statue has the following information about the statue.
QUEEN VICTORIA'S STATUE
After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 a Memorial Committee was formed, and a subscription fund launched to raise money for a statue of the Queen. Nearly £8000 was raised, and George J. Frampton was commissioned to redesign Victoria Square. His scheme would have meant raising the level of the square, surrounding it with a balustrade, and planting trees round a statue of the Queen in the centre. There were to be broad carriage drives on each side. It was also planned to demolish properties opposite the Town Hall to create a vista across to the station. Buying up the properties for demolition was too costly, and this part of the scheme was abandoned. The design for the statue was approved, and Frampton's 30ft high bronze figure of Queen Victoria was placed in the centre of Victoria Square. The seated figure stands on a base of Portland stone, and there are bronze figures of Peace and Industry on either side. The statue was unveiled by the Lord Mayor, Edwin Woodhouse, on 27th November 1905. As a photograph of 1905 shows, a large crowd gathered to watch the proceedings.
In 1937 Victoria Square was remodelled. A terrace was built, approached by steps from the road (then Park Lane), and the curved steps in front of the Town Hall replaced by straight ones, to allow a carriageway and car park to be built in front of the Hall. The statues of Wellington, Peel and Queen Victoria were removed to Woodhouse Moor.
The figure of Queen Victoria is about twice life sife and is an imposing figure at the eastern entrance to the park.
The statue of industry has since been removed. There is however a large stone carving of the Leeds coat of arms at the rear of the statue and the Queen's coat of arms on the front of the statue which are not mentioned in the above description.
The seated figure of Queen Victoria portrays her in her regalia. In her right hand she is holding a sceptre and her left originally held a globe but that has since disappeared.
Queen Victoria
"Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. She was awarded the title of The Empress of India in 1877. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.
She had 9 children during her marriage to Prince Albert. Their nine children and 26 of their 34 grandchildren who survived childhood married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe".
Victoria had been a much loved figure before and after she became queen, but after he died in 1861 aged only 42, she fell into a state of depression and largely withdrew from public life. However after 20 years or so, she slowly re-entered public life and after her jubilees was fully restored to public favour."
link