Statue

FCO - B unknown

Erection date: 1873

Site: Foreign and Commonwealth Office - St James's Park side (8 memorials)

SW1, Horse Guards Road, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign Office was completed in 1873 to the 1861 designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, with Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt for the St James’s Park front.

There are some allegorical figures on the St James's Park facade at 3rd floor level, and at the corners of the main projecting block there are 8 statues, as follows (left to right):
A , 3rd floor north facing
B , 3rd floor west facing
C , 3rd floor west facing
D , 2nd floor south facing
E , 2nd floor north facing
F , 2nd floor west facing
G , 2nd floor west facing
H , 2nd floor south facing

We would appreciate some help identifying these fine gentlemen.  Seems likely that they are the eight Foreign Secretaries who in about 1870 were deemed the most worthy of a statue.  Wikipedia provides lists of these chaps, with pictures - about 25 (some served repeatedly).  Stephen Brasher has had a go at identifying those honoured with a statue and he suggests statue E might be George Hamilton-Gordon 4th Earl of Aberdeen.  We agree with the suit but the hair-line is not persuasive.   Would anyone else like to have a go at this game of statue snap?

2017: We've collected the personages on the Whitehall side of this building.

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:
FCO - B unknown

Also at this site i

Nearby Memorials

Westminster Abbey H - Esther John

Westminster Abbey H - Esther John

SW1, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster Abbey - west porch

Fourteen niches on the West Front remained empty since the Abbey was built until 1998 when they were filled. The lower four are filled wi...

1 subject commemorated, 4 creators
Ferdinand

Ferdinand

W1, St George Street, 6-7, Sotheby's

This identification of the statues on front of this building is only tentative, suggested by Ornamental Passions.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Churchill statue - Parliament Square

Churchill statue - Parliament Square

SW1, Parliament Square

12 foot high, bronze. Unveiled by Lady Churchill.

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Frieze of Parnassus - Poussin

Frieze of Parnassus - Poussin

SW7, Kensington Road

The monument, officially titled the Prince Consort National Memorial, celebrates Victorian achievement and Prince Albert's passions and i...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Queen Victoria as Peace

Queen Victoria as Peace

N20, Barnet Lane, Friary Park

An information panel was erected in front of the statue by the Mayor of Barnet on 18 June 2016. It tells the story of the Park and the st...

1 subject commemorated, 4 creators