Bust

Drill Hall - head 1 - Irish soldier

Erection date: 1882

Site: Drill Hall - W1 (7 memorials)

W1, Chenies Street, Drill Hall

In the spandrels above the entrance door: "Bloomsbury Rifles Pro Patria Semper" ('for my country always'). The technique used for this lettering is new to us, and has weathered, or aged, very badly.

The ends of the label, or drip, window mouldings are decoratively finished with individual sculpted heads. The six on the first floor are small and not too interesting but the six on the ground floor are so delightful we could not let them go, even though their status as memorials is, at best, tangential. We've numbered them left to right and identified a character for each one, except number 4. Do look at them in the larger format - the facial expressions are individual and the moustaches long.

Discussing head 4 with Mike Patterson of London Historians he points out that, in common with other infantry regiments, the Bloomsbury Rifles cap badge incorporated the Maltese cross so that would explain the symbol on the cap. He agrees that, as with 1 and 2, 4 has a local British look but we can't pin it down. Welsh would be an obvious candidate but we can find no images to confirm this association. Of course it could just be bog standard English.

See the foundation stone page for information about the building and its architect. It remained in use by military groups until 1960. It is now RADA Studios.

Londonist have posted a Museum of London video about this drill hall.

The Jewish Legion HQ was at 22 Chenies Street - two buildings to the east.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Drill Hall - head 1 - Irish soldier

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Dr John Langdon Down

Dr John Langdon Down

TW11, Kingston Road, Langdon Park

We could not get close enough to take easily legible photographs and initially read the dates as '1957' but given that Normansfield close...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Adelaide Stoll

Adelaide Stoll

WC2, St Martin's Lane, London Coliseum

The Alamy photo of the unveiling is dated 30 May 1925 and captioned: "A bust of Adelaide Stoll, mother of music hall impresario Sir Oswal...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Myddelton bust

Myddelton bust

N1, Upper Street, 140-3

We have seen other websites where this building is confused with Myddelton Hall, which is the building further up Almeida Street, now use...

1 subject commemorated
Old Westminster Library - head 5 - Milton

Old Westminster Library - head 5 - Milton

SW1, Great Smith Street

The hair seems a bit too curly but the sad eyes are right.

1 subject commemorated
Thomas Grenville

Thomas Grenville

NW1, Euston Road, The British Library

This bust is a 20th-century replica after G. B. Comolli, 19th century.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

Previously viewed

Sir Thomas More

Sir Thomas More

Born Milk Street. In conflict with Henry VIII over religion he was imprisoned in the tower, found guilty of treason and beheaded on Tower Hill. Final words: "The King's good servant, but God's Firs...

Person, Execution, Literature, Politics & Administration, Seriously Famous

16 memorials
Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Born Huntingdon, the great-grandson of Richard Cromwell who was Thomas Cromwell's nephew. The picture source website also provides these words: "Following the traumatic upheavals of civil war and r...

Person, Politics & Administration

7 memorials
Sutton Council

Sutton Council

London borough formed by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Sutton and Cheam, with the Municipal Borough of Beddington and Wallington and Carshalton Urban District which had previously been par...

Group, Politics & Administration

11 memorials
Moriaki Asakura

Moriaki Asakura

Became a student at UCL in 1865.

Person, Education, Japan

1 memorial
Sir Walter Cope

Sir Walter Cope

Courtier of King James I. Probably born in Oxfordshire. Had Holland House built and died there.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial