Sunday in the city
The Buxton Memorial Fountain. S. S. Teulon and Charles Buxton. 1863; erected 1865; restored 2007. Victoria Tower Gardens, London SW1, with the Houses of Parliament in the background. This spectacular, over-the-top drinking fountain was donated and may have been originally designed by the self-taught architect Charles Buxton. He intended it as a monument to his father's work on the anti-slavery campaign, which had helped to bring about the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act.
The fountain is described in a book by a descendant of the Buxton family as "[o]ne of his [Buxton's] best known works," demonstrating not only his love of the Gothic, but also his aim to "add to the objects of beauty by which the common taste may be educated and delighted" (qtd. in Nairn and Pevsner 597-8). However, the information plaque in front of the drinking fountain ascribes it simply to the much better-known architect Samuel Sanders Teulon. It must have been a collaboration, with Teulon perhaps drawing up the final design. The information plaque explains: "the spire is timber framed, and clad with enamelled sheet steel.
The Buxton Memorial Fountain was erected by Charles Buxton to celebrate the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, and the achievement of his father, Thomas Fowell Buxton, and his associates, in bringing it about. The Act, which came into force in 1834, made the ownership of slaves throughout the British colonies illegal. Following the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, the men commemorated by this fountain strove to secure the full emancipation of slaves. To this end, the Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1823, principally by Buxton, Wilberforce, Clarkson and Macaulay.
Wilberforce had been foremost in driving the 1807 Act through Parliament, Clarkson having gathered much of the evidence on which the campaign was built. Buxton, named by Wilberforce as his successor in the fight against slavery, was especially active the second part of the campaign, culminating in the Act of 1833, and in promoting the interests of former slaves in subsequent years. He once observed of himself and his achievements that, 'with ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.' Zachary Macaulay, a prominent campaigner, was for several years governor of Sierra Leone, the colony for emancipated slaves from the United States and Nova Scotia founded in 1787. Henry Brougham, a promoter of abolition, was Lord Chancellor when the 1833 Act was passed. Stephen Lushington, lawyer and MP, was a particularly close associate of Thomas Fowell Buxton's in the anti-slavery movement.
Charles Buxton was the third son of Thomas Fowell Buxton. He served as a Liberal MP for fourteen years, as well as being a partner in the brewing firm of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co, of which his father had been director. He was an amateur architect, and is believed to have contributed to the design of this fountain.
The fountain was erected in Parliament Square in 1865-6, possibly in connection with the abolition of slavery in America at that date. It is thought that Charles Buxton took over the project from the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Association, which, since its inception in 1859, had wished to build 'a costly and handsome fountain in Palace Yard'. By 1949 the fanciful Gothic design of the fountain had few admirers, and it was removed when the Government redeveloped Parliament Square in preparation for the Festival of Britain. Speaking in the House of Lords, Viscount Simon defended 'a memorial erected in the symbolic heart of the Empire to record one of the greatest Parliamentary events in our history'. In 1957 the fountain was re-erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, where it joined Rodin's sculpture of The Burghers of Calais and a statue of the suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst (both listed).
Sunday in the city
The Buxton Memorial Fountain. S. S. Teulon and Charles Buxton. 1863; erected 1865; restored 2007. Victoria Tower Gardens, London SW1, with the Houses of Parliament in the background. This spectacular, over-the-top drinking fountain was donated and may have been originally designed by the self-taught architect Charles Buxton. He intended it as a monument to his father's work on the anti-slavery campaign, which had helped to bring about the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act.
The fountain is described in a book by a descendant of the Buxton family as "[o]ne of his [Buxton's] best known works," demonstrating not only his love of the Gothic, but also his aim to "add to the objects of beauty by which the common taste may be educated and delighted" (qtd. in Nairn and Pevsner 597-8). However, the information plaque in front of the drinking fountain ascribes it simply to the much better-known architect Samuel Sanders Teulon. It must have been a collaboration, with Teulon perhaps drawing up the final design. The information plaque explains: "the spire is timber framed, and clad with enamelled sheet steel.
The Buxton Memorial Fountain was erected by Charles Buxton to celebrate the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, and the achievement of his father, Thomas Fowell Buxton, and his associates, in bringing it about. The Act, which came into force in 1834, made the ownership of slaves throughout the British colonies illegal. Following the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, the men commemorated by this fountain strove to secure the full emancipation of slaves. To this end, the Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1823, principally by Buxton, Wilberforce, Clarkson and Macaulay.
Wilberforce had been foremost in driving the 1807 Act through Parliament, Clarkson having gathered much of the evidence on which the campaign was built. Buxton, named by Wilberforce as his successor in the fight against slavery, was especially active the second part of the campaign, culminating in the Act of 1833, and in promoting the interests of former slaves in subsequent years. He once observed of himself and his achievements that, 'with ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.' Zachary Macaulay, a prominent campaigner, was for several years governor of Sierra Leone, the colony for emancipated slaves from the United States and Nova Scotia founded in 1787. Henry Brougham, a promoter of abolition, was Lord Chancellor when the 1833 Act was passed. Stephen Lushington, lawyer and MP, was a particularly close associate of Thomas Fowell Buxton's in the anti-slavery movement.
Charles Buxton was the third son of Thomas Fowell Buxton. He served as a Liberal MP for fourteen years, as well as being a partner in the brewing firm of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co, of which his father had been director. He was an amateur architect, and is believed to have contributed to the design of this fountain.
The fountain was erected in Parliament Square in 1865-6, possibly in connection with the abolition of slavery in America at that date. It is thought that Charles Buxton took over the project from the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Association, which, since its inception in 1859, had wished to build 'a costly and handsome fountain in Palace Yard'. By 1949 the fanciful Gothic design of the fountain had few admirers, and it was removed when the Government redeveloped Parliament Square in preparation for the Festival of Britain. Speaking in the House of Lords, Viscount Simon defended 'a memorial erected in the symbolic heart of the Empire to record one of the greatest Parliamentary events in our history'. In 1957 the fountain was re-erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, where it joined Rodin's sculpture of The Burghers of Calais and a statue of the suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst (both listed).