View of the Buxton Memorial Fountain in the Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank
View of the Buxton Memorial Fountain in the Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank. The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial and drinking fountain in London, the United Kingdom, that commemorates the The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial and drinking fountain in London, the United Kingdom, that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834. It was commissioned by Charles Buxton MP, and was dedicated to his father Thomas Fowell Buxton along with William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Henry Brougham and Stephen Lushington, all of whom were involved in the abolition. It was designed by Gothic architect Samuel Sanders Teulon (1812–1873) in 1865 coincidentally with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which effectively ended the western slave-trade. It was originally constructed in Parliament Square, erected at a cost of £1,200. As part of the postwar redesign of the square it was removed in 1949 and not reinstated in its present position in Victoria Tower Gardens until 1957. There were eight decorative figures of British rulers on it, but four were stolen in 1960 and four in 1971. They were replaced by fibreglass figures in 1980. By 2005 these were missing, and the fountain was no longer working. Between autumn 2006 and February 2007 restoration works were carried out. The restored fountain was unveiled on 27 March 2007 as part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the act to abolish the slave trade. A memorial plaque commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Anti-Slavery Society was added in 1989. The base is octagonal, about twelve feet in diameter, having open arches on the eight sides, supported on clustered shafts of polished Devonshire marble around a large central shaft, with four massive granite basins. Surmounting the pinnacles at the angles of the octagon are eight figures of bronze, representing the different rulers of England
Size: 3601px × 5487px
Location: Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1834, architect, architecture, buxton, charles, devonshire, drinking, emancipation, fountain, gothic, marble, memorial, mp, octagonal, samuel, sanders, slaves, teulon
