Queen Victoria Statue
The Queen Victoria Statue is a bronze and marble statue situated in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford. It was completed in 1901 and was originally commissioned in 1897 for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.[1]
The statue is a double-life size[1] Queen Victoria made from bronze, sat on a marble throne. While it now occupies a prominent spot in Piccadilly Gardens, when it was unveiled in 1901 that same spot was directly in front of the Manchester Royal Infirmary,[2] which was demolished years later and turned into the gardens that are seen today.
Queen Victoria died in January 1901,[3] just months before the statue was completed. Edward Onslow Ford died in December 1901,[4] just months after it was completed, making it one of his final works.
History
Commissioning
Queen Victoria celebrated 60 years on the throne with her diamond jubilee in 1897. As part of the celebrations, a Queen Victoria Commemoration Fund was established and money was raised from April 1897. Almost £24,000 was raised in total via the fund to create a statue of Queen Victoria, and any surplus money upon completion was to be donated to charity. The sculptor Edward Onslow Ford was commissioned to create the statue.
Construction
During construction, Queen Victoria took a deep personal interest in the statue. She personally suggested that the statue should be made from bronze, as the planned marble statue would be much less durable
. When the Executive Committee of the Queen Victoria Commemoration Fund heard this suggestion, they obliged and the statue was instead made from bronze. Queen Victoria also loaned personal photographs to Ford, and in February 1898 did a sitting so Ford could capture life-like details.
By June 1900 the location of the statue was set to be directly in front of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, on its esplanade. The bronze figures were being made in a foundry, and the marble throne was being constructed in Italy.
As of September 1901, the statue was fenced off from the public while the construction was in its final stages. No date had yet been officially set for the unveiling. Certain materials for the statue, believed to be stone, were damaged while being transported to Manchester, causing delays to the completion.
On 17th September 1901, a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Queen Victoria Commemoration Fund estimated the total cost of the statue to be around £5,000. The remainder of the fund was set to be donated to the Manchester Royal Infirmary, to support their plans for increasing patient capacity. It was noted during the meeting that Manchester lacked patient capacity at general hospitals compared to other towns across the country, and so this was an especially important charitable cause.
Unveiling
On 10th October 1901, Lord Roberts unveiled the statue in front of a crowd.[5]
Sources
- Manchester Evening News, 28th September 1901, Page 2. ↩ ↩
- Manchester Evening News, 12th September 1901, Page 2. ↩
- Victoria (r. 1837-1901), Royal Family website, accessed 31st January 2026. ↩
- Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 26th December 1901, Page 4. ↩
- Evening Sentinel, 11th October 1901, Page 2. ↩