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Grey's Monument is a Grade I listed monument in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was built in 1838 to commemorate Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (also known as Earl Grey), who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834. It was erected to acclaim Earl Grey for the passing of the Great Reform Act of 1832 which brought about parliamentary reform. The monument is 133 feet (41 m) in total and consists of a statue of Earl Grey on a pedestal standing on top of a Roman Doric column. The column was designed by local architects John and Benjamin Green, and the statue was created by the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily. The monument was paid for by public subscription. It gives its name to the Tyne and Wear Metro station nearby, Monument Metro station.

Grey's Monument

Grey's Monument
Coordinates	54.9738°N 1.6132°W / 54.9738; -1.6132
Location	Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
Designer	John Green (column) Edward Hodges Baily (statue)
Builder	Joseph Welch
Height	133 feet (41 m)
Beginning date	6 September 1837
Completion date	11 August 1838 (column) 24 August 1838 (statue)
Dedicated to	Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

History

Context

Grey's Monument was erected to commemorate Charles Grey (the 2nd Earl Grey). Earl Grey represented Northumberland in Parliament from the age of 22. He was made First Lord of the Admiralty in 1806, and later Leader of the House of Commons. In 1830 he was invited to form a government and became Prime Minister.[1] It was during his time as Prime Minister that he passed the Great Reform Act,[2][3] which brought about parliamentary reform and extended the right to vote.[4]

Conception and planning

The idea to build a monument to commemorate Earl Grey first came about in 1832. The Newcastle-based architect, John Green, sought investment for a statue of Earl Grey via public subscription. He intended for the statue to be built in Northumberland Square in North Shields and envisaged the Earl to be depicted in Parliamentary robes, holding the Magna Carta.[1] The proposal was advertised in a column in The Newcastle Chronicle on 16 June 1832:

Instead of expressing our grateful Joy in the childish Barbarism of wasteful and dangerous Illuminations, which blaze for an Hour and are forgotten for ever; let us erect a Monument that shall commemorate to future Ages our Gratitude to the Friend of the People! the Prince of Patriots! and the Honour of Northumberland, EARL GREY!!![5]

The proposal was initially met with enthusiasm, although some Reformers were hesitant to commemorate a minister, instead preferring to erect a monument to the cause of the Reform movement itself.[6] In 1834, more alternative sites for the monument were proposed, including Rimside Moor in Northumberland,[7] and its current site in central Newcastle as part of a local improvement plan proposed by Richard Grainger. In October of the same year, Earl Grey was once again proposed as a figure for the statue.[1] A public meeting took place on 6 October, chaired by William Ord, "to take into consideration the propriety of entering into a subscription, for erecting in a public situation in his native county, a statue, or other memorial, to the memory of the Noble Earl".[8] There was unanimous support for the monument and £500 was raised on the day.[9] One of the subscribers to the final monument was Whig politician and Irish political leader Daniel O'Connell.[10] The final location of the monument was slow to be approved, due to indecision from the council. There was also some lack of approval of Earl Grey himself.[1]

Plans for Grey's Monument were approved by Newcastle Town Council on 14 September 1836. In the same meeting, it was agreed that the location of the monument would be at the top of Upper Dean Street, and the street would be renamed to Grey Street. Regarding the location of the monument, Councillor Charnley said "It must be well known to most of us that great anxiety has been felt to fix upon upon a proper situation for the monument; and after long deliberation, the Committee have come to the resolution that the place proposed is the fittest and most appropriate in Newcastle. It will be for you to decide whether, in your judgement, the Committee have come to a proper determination".[11] Benjamin Green—John Green's son—designed the monument's column, which was to cost £1,600.[1][9] The architects initially intended for the monument to be taller, but the height was limited by the amount of money raised via subscriptions.[12][2] Edward Hodges Baily was commissioned to design the statue of the Earl himself which cost £700.[9]

Construction

Joseph Welch—who had previously built the Ouseburn Viaduct and Bellingham Bridge—was in charge of the monument's construction.[9] The foundation stone was laid on 6 September 1837 by both John and Benjamin Green.[13] A time capsule was buried at the time of the monument's construction. It contained a hermetically sealed glass bottle which contained a drawing of the structure, a collection of coins, local medals and tradesman's tokens donated by John Ralph Fenwick, and a list of the monument's subscribers. The construction of the column was completed on 11 August 1838.[14][15]

After its completion, the Earl and Countess Grey visited Newcastle whilst staying at Howick Hall, the home of the Grey family. The Sunderland Herald reported that the they had "evident signs of pleasure" when viewing the column.[16] On the 24 August 1838, the statue of Earl Grey was placed on top of the column.[14][15] It was transported from London by Halcyon, a trader based in Newcastle,[13] and moved to its base from the quay of the River Tyne by two wagons.[17] Church bells rang throughout the day to commemorate the occasion,[14][15] although Earl Grey did not attend himself.[1] In November 1838, the scaffolding which had been encasing the monument up until that point was removed.[13]

Design

Column

Measured from the bottom of the column to the top of the statue, Grey's Monument is 133 feet (41 m) tall. The fluted column[18] is Roman Doric in style and, in keeping with the style, does not have a base.[14][19] The column was originally built from Pennine stone. Renovations on the column replaced the original stone with sandstone ashlar.[1][20] A helical staircase with 164 steps[14] leads to a viewing platform at the top of the monument, which is occasionally opened to the public.[21] A building survey conducted in 1995 concluded that the column was built on shallow foundations. It also found that in wind, the column can sway up to 30 centimetres (12 in).[1] Old photographs indicate that the monument was originally on a traffic island and was surrounded by railings.[22] It also had lighting installed around it: in 1892, the Lighting Committee of Newcastle Council first planned to install lighting around Grey's Monument,[23] and in 1893, the Committee agreed that four lamps would be placed at the monument;[24] in the 1910s, 12 lighting units were fitted around the base of the monument.[25] The railings, and four lamps which stood at each corner of the base, have since been removed.[1]

Statue

At the top of the column there is a pedestal surrounded by railings, and on top of the pedestal is the statue of Earl Grey by E. H. Baily.[1] The statue depicts a 13 feet (4.0 m)[26] twice-life-size figure standing upright, clothed in robes of the Order of the Garter.[1][27] It is made out of Portland stone[26] and was coated in wax to protect it against the weather.[27] In Public Sculpture of North-East England, the expression of Earl Grey is described as "pensive".[1] Baily also made 30 miniatures of the statue out of plaster, possibly intended as souvenirs.[1] During a thunderstorm on 25 July 1941, the head of the statue, which weighed around 102 kilograms (225 lb)[lower-alpha 1] was knocked off by a bolt of lightning[1] and fell onto the tram lines below the monument.[29] One of the statue's arms and a portion of the cloak were also damaged.[30] The Newcastle Estate and Property Committee agreed that the statue would not be repaired until after the Second World War, but the head would be retained and restored.[29] In 1947, sculptor Roger Hedley (the son of painter Ralph Hedley[31]) created a new head based on the preserved fragments of the original.[1]

• 
  Grey's Monument as viewed from Grey Street.
• 
  The marble statue is twice-life-size and sits on top of the column.

Inscriptions

In September 1838, a meeting was held with the subscribers of Grey's Monument with the purpose of deciding an inscription for the monument. Inscriptions consisting of rhyming prose were offered by members including the Secretary of the meeting, for example:

The Reform Bill passed in eighteen hundred and thirty-four.
To Charles Earl Grey—I can tell you no more![32]

Other members proposed inscriptions in Latin, in recognition of Earl Grey's education at Cambridge University,[33] and in Irish. At the end of the meeting, there was no agreement on an inscription but it was decided that further considerations would be made by a new committee, formed especially for that purpose.[34]

The main inscription on the south side of the pedestal was added in 1854 and was most likely written by Sydney Smith.[1][35] It was installed by the Red Barns Marble Works of Gibson Street, Newcastle.[36]

THIS COLUMN WAS ERECTED IN 1838 TO COMMEMORATE THE SERVICES RENDERED TO HIS COUNTRY BY CHARLES EARL GREY K.G. WHO, DURING AN ACTIVE POLITICAL CAREER OF NEARLY HALF A CENTURY WAS THE CONSTANT ADVOCATE OF PEACE AND THE FEARLESS AND CONSISTENT CHAMPION OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. HE FIRST DIRECTED HIS EFFORTS TO THE AMENDMENT OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE IN 1792, AND WAS THE MINISTER BY WHOSE ADVICE, AND UNDER WHOSE GUIDANCE, THE GREAT MEASURE OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM WAS AFTER AN ARDUOUS AND PROTRACTED STRUGGLE SAFELY AND TRIUMPHANTLY ACHIEVED IN THE YEAR 1832.

On the opposite face is a later inscription from 1932, installed at the request of Sir Charles Trevelyan, 100 years after the passing of the Great Reform Act. The words of the inscription were written by Edward Grey.[1]

AFTER A CENTURY OF CIVIL PEACE, THE PEOPLE RENEW THEIR GRATITUDE TO THE AUTHOR OF THE GREAT REFORM BILL. 1932.

Reception

After the monument was completed it received praise from contemporary artists and writers.[1] A column in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction in 1838 wrote that the statue "is a faithful representation of the noble Lord,—and esteemed a fine imaginative work of art".[19] Also in 1838, The Spectator described the statue as "equal to any of Chantry's [sic]".[27] Writing in Bradshaw's Journal in 1842, Alex Falkner wrote that he statue, "when seen from the centre of the street, has a most commanding appearance".[18] In 1867, the author T. Fordyce described the statue of Earl Grey as "a noble effort of genius" which reflected "the highest credit on its accomplished author, Mr. Baily".[13] The monument did not receive universal acclaim and it received criticism which lasted into the latter half of the 19th century.[1] After the column was erected in August 1838, The Newcastle Journal wrote "Whatever may be the character of the Column as a work of art, it is certain that in its present situation, it will be a great nuisance, and that at no distant day its removal to a less objectionable site will be called for by the public".[37] In 1857, a writer local to Newcastle wrote "the monument to Earl Grey is, to my mind, a huge mistake; you place an aged nobleman, dressed in court costume, on a high pillar, and, without a hat upon his bald head, expose him to the pelting of every storm that Heaven sends".[1] Public interest and awareness of Earl Grey also decreased into and during the 20th century.[1]

Grey's Monument became a Grade I listed building on 14 June 1954.[20] In the second half of the 20th century there were multiple calls (in 1982, 1994 and 1998) for the monument to be renovated, but these were dismissed due to the estimated cost of repairs and recognition that previous repairs led to long-term damage by pollution.[1]

Location

Grey's Monument is located at the head of Grey Street and near Grainger Street. It is within the Monument local authority ward.[18][38] When it was constructed in the 19th century, it was located at a centre of Newcastle's tram system.[12] In the 1920s, there were calls from the Durham Branch of the Surveyors' Institution to remove and relocate the monument, due to its growing obstruction of the traffic.[39] The monument lends its name to Monument Metro station, on the Tyne and Wear Metro opened in 1981 located directly underneath the monument. The wide base of the monument is a popular meeting place for people in Newcastle and is regarded as a speakers' corner.[1]

See also

• Grade I listed buildings in Tyne and Wear

References

Notes

Citations

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