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Bronze statue of Lancashire Fusilier surmounting pedestal with bronze panels listing those who died in the Boer War.

The idea of erecting a memorial had been initially discussed at a meeting of the Lancashire Fusiliers' Compassionate Fund, and plans to erect a memorial were announced in February 1903. The fund aimed to collect a sum of £1,800, £500 of which would be needed for the memorial. Frampton was chosen as "an artist of unquestonable skill" by the committee, and initial sums of £50 and £100 were provided by the Earl of Derby and the officers of the Regiment.(1) Other subscriptions came from the citizens of Bury. Sir Lees Knowles, the chairman of the memorial committee, liaised with Frampton, and "the discussions on details with the sculptor alone exacted a heavy but unavoidable tax on the time and resources of both those gentlemen." (p.12) The statue was originally sited in the Market Place, on a site donated by the corporation which was said to be to Frampton's satisfaction. However, the Market Place was was already occupied by the monument to Sir Robert Peel. The Bury Times complained that it would have been better to site the statue in Knowsley Street because not only did Frampton's work seem to diminish the Peel statue by throwing it to the rear of the square, but the Fusilier also appeared to have turned his back on the former Prime Minister, "an act which hardly squares with the generally accepted rules of propriety."(2) Frampton’s sculpture did not show a soldier in the uniform used in South Africa but their modern ceremonial uniform which included the recently awarded primrose-yellow hackle worn on the left side of the busby. The Times praised the originality of the statue, which did not, as was customary, show the soldier in repose or mourning for his dead comrades. Frampton, it was said, "had a different vision of the character of a man when at war with an enemy." In the heat of combat, The Times suggested, the soldier thirsts for battle, and it was this aspect which Frampton was held to have represented, with the soldier raising "a cheer of triumph for duty nobly accomplished" which would "inspire his fellows to fight on for King and Country."(2) The model for the soldier was not a member of the regiment but Harry Ibell, who had served in the 16th Lancers. The statue was unveiled by the Earl of Derby, the Lord Lieutenant of the county (and the town’s largest landowner), on 18 March, 1905 with the usual ceremonials, including a military parade. The platform speeches were suffused with the ideals of patriotism and bravery, whilst emphasising the connection between the regiment and the town. Importantly they also served as opportunity to further develop unity within the regiment. In accepting the statue for the town the mayor hoped that the new memorial and placed as it was close to the Peel statue would serve as a stimulus to duty in those who passed by them. It commemorated the Lancashire Fusiliers’ campaigns during the Boer War including their part in the battle at a Spion Kop (where a sandstone obelisk was erected by the regiment). Although at the time of the unveiling the centrality of the site had been commended, the memorial was not to remain in the Market Place. In 1920 it was moved from the Market Place to its present site at the front of the Whitehead Clock Tower Gardens due to the building of a large tram-shelter.

The statue was erected as a memorial to all the officers and men of the Lancashire Fusiliers who fought and were killed in the Boer War. Bury was the headquarters of the Lancashire Fusiliers.

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

Statue

Bronze

280cm high approx

Pedestal

Stone

304 cm high approx x 102cm square (at base)

Biological growth

Algae on pedestal

None