Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project
George V
Region ID | UEL | |
Work ID | 492 | |
Manual Reference | BE019 | |
Type | Sculpture | |
Title | George V | |
Sculptor | Ravera, John | |
Architect | Epps, Walter M. | |
Date of design | ||
Year of unveiling | 1990 | |
Unveiling details | ||
Road | Broadway | |
Precise Location | In niche on west side of Clocktower standing in pedestrianised area beside bus stops opposite Shopping Centre | |
A to Z Ref | 97 3L | |
OS Ref | ||
Postcode | DA6 | |
Work is | Extant | |
Listing Status | Don't know | |
Duty of Care | ||
Commissioned by | ||
Notes | ||
Head and shoulders bust of King George V standing in a niche high up on side of red brick clocktower. Clocktower has rusticated stone footing and there is an electricity substation inside. | ||
The original bust in the tower was taken down during the war and lost. The tower was erected in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of George V, by public subscription, with Walter Epps as the architect. Around 1990 John Ravera was asked to produce a similar bust of the King to replace the missing one. The only information he had to work with were photographs from the 1940s of the whole tower with the sculpture itself therefore very small. They were in fact merely snapshots of the tower with crowds of people round. He therefore had to research questions such as whether he wore a crown in the original, and was he wearing an ermine coat. These decisions were based on other portraits of the King dating from the same era. He was convinced, for example, that there wouldn’t have been a crown so he did not give his replacement one. Ravera worked in the style of the late 1930s/1940s, using stone resin; the original was in terracotta. When the two busts on the clocktower, George V and William Morris, were in situ, people commented that they had been cleaned and replaced, even though one had not been there since the war and the other was entirely new! | ||
Commemorates the coronation of King George V in 1911. King George lived 1865-1936 and reigned from 1910 until his death. The son of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, he became King because his older brother died before acceding to the throne. He married Princess Mary of Teck in 1893 and they had six children including the future Kings Edward VIII and George VI. He was widely known as the ‘Sailor King’, having had a career as an officer in the Royal Navy and later enjoying sailing as a hobby. He was largely responsible for the development of a popular constitutional monarchy, instituting the Christmas broadcast to the nation, and receiving, to his surprise, genuine popular acclaim in London on his Silver Jubilee. | ||
circa | ||
raw year | 1990 | |
Condition | Good | |
At risk | No known risk | |
Inscriptions | On south side on stone plaque on rusticated stonework at base of tower, incised letters: THIS TOWER / WAS ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION / AS A LOYAL TRIBUTE / FROM THE INHABITANTS OF / BEXLEYHEATH TO COMMEMORATE / THE CORONATION OF HIS MAJESTY / KING GEORGE .V. / 1911 / G. SHELDON. J.P CHAIRMAN / BEXLEY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL / THOMAS. G.[or ?C.] BAYNES. WALTER. M. EPPS. A.R.I.B.A / CLERK ARCHITECT [These last two words are set on a separate line beneath the names, i.e.Thomas Baynes was the clerk, Walter Epps was the architect] | |
Signatures | ||
Elements
Element Details
Part of work | Material | Dimensions |
|---|---|---|
Whole work | Stone resin | |
Assessment of Condition
Surface Character
Detail | Comment |
|---|---|
No damage | |
Structural Condition
Structural Condition | Comment |
|---|---|
None | |
Vandalism
Vandalism | Comment |
|---|---|
None | |