Now! Then! Leeds unveils a statue modelled by someone believed to resemble Robert Peel (RIP)

20 August 1852: Leeds unveils a statue modelled by someone believed to resemble Robert Peel (RIP)

Spectator. 1852/08/21. [A Statue to the Memory of Sir Robert Peel]. London. Get it:

Excerpt

The statue is the work of Mr Behnes. It represents Sir Robert Peel in an attitude which he often assumed when addressing the House of Commons – his left arm resting on his hip, and his right hand grasping a roll of papers. In height it is eight feet six inches, and it was “cast in one solid piece,” at the works of Mr F. Robinson, in Pimlico. The pedestal consists of a base of grey Aberdeen granite, with a shaft of red. On this shaft is deeply cut, in simple characters, the single word “Peel.” We have already noticed the model from which the statue was worked, which we saw in the studio of the sculptor: that model was a good and animated likeness.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

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Original

A statue to the memory of Sir Robert Peel was uncovered at Leeds yesterday, with an inaugural ceremony. The statue was placed in an open angle between the Court-house, the Coloured Cloth Hall, and the Commercial Buildings. At noon, a procession set out from the Court-house and assembled round the statue, as yet veiled. There were Mr. J. H. Shaw, the Mayor of Leeds, the Earl of Harewood, Mr. Edmund Denison M.P., Sir George Goodman M.P., Dr. Hook the Vicar, and other gentlemen. The streets were thronged, and houses even to the tops. The statue was uncovered amid the firing of guns, the cheers of the people, and the flourish of trumpets.

Mr. William Beckett M.P. delivered the inaugural address. When he had concluded, the statue was formally made over by the Committee to the Corporation of Leeds, as trustees for the public.

The Mayor of Leeds acknowledged the gift in a few hearty words. In estimating the personal merits of statesmen, they must look beyond differences of opinion to motives, qualities, labours and sacrifices.

“Tried by these tests, few, if any, have appeared in our political arena during the last half-century who equalled Sir Robert Peel in the combination of qualities requisite for an English Minister of State. His happy union of quickness with industry, and of caution with firmness, enabled him to acquire vast stores of political and general knowledge, and to apply that knowledge to the public service with judgment and efficiency. His consummate skill as a Parliamentary leader, the luminous and persuasive eloquence with which he could expound and defend the measures of his Government before the Representatives of the People, and the mastery of temper which kept these high and varied powers ever at his command, preeminently fitted him for that honourable but arduous post. He was indeed himself (what in his last speech in Parliament he described a political opponent to be) one of whom we were all proud.”

The ceremonies were terminated by the singing of the National Anthem.

The statue is the work of Mr. Behnes: it represents Sir Robert Peel in an attitude which he often assumed when addressing the House of Commons – his left arm resting on his hip, and his right hand grasping a roll of papers. In height it is eight feet six inches, and it was “cast in one solid piece,” at the works of Mr. F. Robinson, in Pimlico. The pedestal consists of a base of grey Aberdeen granite, with a shaft of red. On this shaft is deeply cut, in simple characters, the single word “Peel.” We have already noticed the model from which the statue was worked, which we saw in the studio of the sculptor: that model was a good and animated likeness.

475 words.