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Half-length bronze bust of Joule surmounting a tapering polished granite pedestal on which is the inscription. Joule is shown holding manuscript papers, on the front of which is a diagram of the tangent galvanometer.

In 1902 a memorial committee was appointed by Sale District Council to collect subscriptions for a Joule memorial tower, which would be placed in Worthington Park as part of the celebrations of coronation year. As well as being an ornament to the park, the tower was also intended to house meteorological instruments. However, by July only £296 had been raised towards a total cost of £800 to £1000, £100 of which had been given by local benefactor Mrs. Worthington who had funded the purchase of Worthington Park two years before. Subscriptions from the residents of Sale amounted to £85. The District Council therefore felt that the gifts of the major subscribers "are being but poorly appreciated, whilst the interests of the district and particularly the added attractions to the Park and Recreation Ground, which the Tower will bring, do not seem to appeal to the inhabitants." The paucity of subscriptions could only be attributed to indifference or ignorance, which would dissipate "if the residents generally would make themselves acquainted with the merits of the scheme and its undoubted benefits."(2) However, Joule failed to attract interest, perhaps because of his relatively brief stay in the borough and his greater association with Salford and Manchester, the latter having memorialised him in 1893. A bronze bust was eventually decided upon, and it was unveiled by Sir William H. Bailey, President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in October 1905.(3)

James Prescott Joule (1818-1889), physicist, was born in Salford, the son of brewer Benjamin Joule and his wife Alice. Because of poor health, he was educated at home, but in 1835 was sent with his brother to study under John Dalton and then with Sturgeon, the inventor of the soft iron magnet. Part of the family home at Pendlebury became a laboratory, and Joule published the first of many papers on electro-magnetism ('On an Electro-magnetic Engine') in 1838. He was elected a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in January 1842, librarian in 1844, honorary secretary in 1846, eventually becoming president in 1860. He gave his name to two significant scientific discoveries. The first, arising from the 1840 paper 'On the Production of Heat by Voltaic Electricity,' established that "when a current of voltaic electricity is propagated along a metallic conductor the heat evolved in a given time is proportional to the resistance of the conductor multiplied by the square of the electrical intensity." The second, stated in the 1843 paper 'On the Calorific Effects of Magneto-Electricity' established the equivalence of heat and energy. In a series of experiments Joule concluded that "wherever mechanical force is expended an exact equivalent of heat is always obtained." This, Joule showed, could be quantified, and was henceforth known as J, or "Joule's equivalent." He continued to refine the value of J in later experiments. In 1852 the Royal Society awarded Joule the Royal medal for his researches into heat. He received the Copley medal for the same work in 1860. He was also awarded a number of honorary degrees, a civil list pension, and the Albert medal of the Society of Arts, presented by the Prince of Wales. In 1872 his health deteriorated, and he spent the rest of his life quietly at his home in Wardle Road, Sale.(1)

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At risk

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Bust

Bronze

107 cm high approx

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Granite

244 cm high x 61 cm x 46 cm

None