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Two effigies, of Sir John Morden, the founder of Morden College, and his wife Susan, standing in a double niche on the west front of the college. The façade is of red brick and has a central projecting section with a large pediment all the way across it. In the centre is a smaller projecting section containing the main doorway, and above this, inside the pediment, are two large niches painted white, containing the effigies which are also white. The male figure is on the left, standing with his left foot slightly forward. He is bare headed with long curled hair, and wearing the dress of the day - knee breeches and a knee length coat. He has a long drape of a lightweight fabric round his shoulders and down to the floor. His left hand is across his body tucked into the coat, the right one grasps the fabric. Lady Susan Morden is also in the dress of the time, wearing a fairly plain dress with two long cords hanging down the front. She also has a piece of light fabric draped round her, across her head and falling down to the ground on either side. She holds the fabric with her right hand across her body, and her left hand is by her side with her wrist bent and the hand in an open gesture. The figures' heads are slightly turned towards each other. The niches are supported on either side by palm fronds forming the top slope of a roughly triangular bracket. Green says: 'The niches are flanked by scrolls ornamented with branches of palm which appear to be of a later character than the building'.(1) Beneath the pediment is a relief, a cartouche bearing the Morden and Brand arms. In the left half are the Morden arms, a red fleur-de-lys on a white ground with the red hand of Ulster above it, the red hand denoting a baronet. On the right the family crest of the Brand family, Lady Susan’s family, two crossed swords in gold and white on a blue ground. The cartouche is supported by swags of fruit and flowers on either side and is all in white except for the painted detail on the crest. The door surround beneath has an empty segmental pediment, two columns, and is all painted white. Beneath the pediment is a keystone with two putti heads close together carved in high relief. There are wings behind the heads, and a collar or leaves across in front under the chins. There are flowers and leaves carved above the heads, with more carved in triangular panels on either side of the keystone.

The effigies must have been set up some time between 1717 and 1725, with Sir John’s being sited first. They must date from after May 1717 as Lady Susan signed her will on that date leaving money 'for setting up Sir John Morden's and my own effigies in the stone over the entering door into the College in case the same shall not be done during my lifetime'. In his ‘Tour thro’ the whole Island of Great Britain’ of 1725, Daniel Defoe says, ‘There is erected over Gate since Sir John’s death, his statue in stone, set up by his Lady, and since her Death, her own is set up near it, by the Trustees’.(4) Sir John died in 1708 and Lady Susan in 1721. Pevsner points to a resemblance noted by Roger White, between the design of the niches and an engraving of an altar recess at the Hotel des Ardilliers in Paris, published in The Architect's Storehouse by Roger Pricke in 1674.(5)

John Morden was born in 1623. In 1662 he married Susan, or Susanna, the daughter of Joseph Brand of Suffolk. Morden was a prosperous merchant, a member and director of the Turkey or Levant Company and also of the East India Company. He was also briefly a Member of Parliament, and was appointed one of the Commission for a Survey of the King’s Manor of Greenwich to define the boundaries and encroachments of the manor. Sir John and Lady Susan had no children, and towards the end of his life he devoted almost all of his fortune to the foundation and endowment of Morden College. It was set up for the relief in old age of 40 decayed merchants, and was intended as an almshouse for traders and merchants engaged in similar entreprises to his own, who had become destitute through no fault of their own. There is a story, persistent but probably untrue, that his desire to found the college came about because three ships of his own were lost at sea and only returned after a long period when all hope for them had been abandoned. He himself had therefore experienced the poverty that such ‘Perrills of the Seas’ could bring about. The foundation of the College cost £10,000, and he settled £1,000 per annum on it. Building began around 1695 and was completed in 1702, but the first pensioners had already been admitted on 24 June 1700, 14 to start with. Sir John died on 6 September 1708 aged 86 and was buried in the College chapel. In his 1720 edition of ‘Stow’s Survey of London’ (1598), John Strype notes the resemblance between Morden College and Bromley College (see BR044). Sir John was Treasurer and a trustee of Bromley College between 1693 and 1698 and Green comments, 'It seems likely that he accepted these duties in order to obtain a working knowledge of the administration of an institution similar to the one he was about to found, and there are many points, particularly in the architecture arrangement, in which the two colleges agree'.(2) 'Sir John’s last years were spent chiefly in setting a secure foundation to the work which was to be the crowning effort of his life and which has caused his name to be continually and gratefully remembered'.(1) The College is flourishing and has expanded greatly over the years. It now includes a wider group of people, especially from the professions. Lady Susan Morden, was born in 1638 and died on 26 June 1721 aged 83. As a trustee and the sole executrix of his will, she had to direct the charity after her husband’s death. Sir John had ensured that the offices of Chaplain and Treasurer for the foundation should be filled by members of his or his wife’s family then and in the future. Failing this, the duty fell to the Turkey Company and after this the East India Company.(2) The design of the college is attributed to Sir Christopher Wren although mostly the work is by Edward Strong, his Master Mason. The building is of brick with hard plaster dressings.(4) The design is based on mediaeval almshouses which in turn drew their inspiration from the monastic cloister. It has a quadrangle with covered walkway and living quarters all round. This design offered safety and security and companionship to the inhabitants, and also enabled an eye to be kept on them at the same time! Morden College is acknowledged to be one of the finest examples of collegiate architecture. The accommodation was intended to enable the inhabitants to live like gentlemen according to Defoe, although the final layout was not as generous as had first been planned. Each inmate had a bedroom and sitting room and shared with one other a bathroom and kitchen.(4)

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

Statues

Plaster? painted white

183cm high

Set of niches and surrounds

Plaster? painted white

214cm high x 457cm wide

Cartouche and swags

Plaster? painted white

168cm high x 320cm wide

Keystone and mouldings

Plaster? painted white

30cm high x 248cm wide

(Doorway)

(251cm wide)

No damage

Recently painted, very excellent condition

None

None