Bust

Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Erection date: 1905

Lea Cornthwaite suggested this might be the Duke of Cambridge. Stephen Brasher suggested Lord Salisbury.   Comparing pictures of the contenders it’s the chin-beard, or lack of it, that convinces us it's Salisbury.

Site: Knightsbridge - 6 busts (6 memorials)

SW1, Knightsbridge, 55 - 91

This huge building, Grade 2 listed and in need of a clean, is actually 18 buildings behind a unifying facade designed by W. D. Caroe, in red brick with stone dressings in an eclectic Queen Anne/Flemish style. 1902 - 5. Built as a mansion block but unusually there were seven developers who designed their own segments behind the facade.

A 2010 planning application contains a few drawings and early photographs but there is no mention of these busts, numbered here left to right.  

When we published these 6 busts we were pretty confident with our identification of heads 1 and 2 but were struggling to identify the others.  Readers quickly sent in some helpful suggestions, readers more familiar with the faces of celebrities from that period than we are.  So we have corrected our identifications, but if you think we still have it wrong please let us know.

The second floor corner at Wilton Place carries a rather splendid royal crest with the top-most lion looking more like a lap-dog.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Subjects commemorated i

Lord Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

Conservative Prime Minister: 1885-6; 1886-92; 1895-1902. Too many names: Robe...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Also at this site i

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Stephen Brasher suggested that this is Field Marshal Lord Roberts and, having...

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Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Stalin?  Can't be - for so many reasons, one being that he didn't look like t...

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Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

We original thought this was Gladstone (who had died only a few years before)...

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Nearby Memorials

C3 - Bacon

C3 - Bacon

W2, Westbourne Grove, 26, HBA

The Bayswater Athenaeum was built in 1863 by architect Arthur Billing of Newman and Billing. The name was originally inscribed in the pan...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Churchill - E11

Churchill - E11

E11, Wanstead High Street

We think the thickness of the neck has been overdone, even for Churchill. British Pathe have some very dull footage from 1966 of this bus...

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Somerset House - 3, Queen Charlotte

Somerset House - 3, Queen Charlotte

WC2, Strand, Somerset House - Strand Block

The three central first floor windows of the Strand Block of Somerset House are each topped, below their pediment, with a relief portrait...

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Charles I - beheaded

Charles I - beheaded

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In about 1945 Hedley Hope-Nicholson, a Charles I fan and central member of the Society of King Charles the Martyr, found three lead busts...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Caxton Hall - head 5 - unidentified

Caxton Hall - head 5 - unidentified

SW1, Caxton Street, 10, Caxton Hall

The foundation stone is low down at the right hand side of the building. Above each of the two statues is a bust, both of the Greek god v...