Bust

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Erection date: 1905

Stephen Brasher suggested that this is Field Marshal Lord Roberts and, having examined a number of portraits, especially one here, we agree.

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 - 3 - Roberts

Subjects commemorated i

Earl Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar

British field marshal, served in India and the Boer War. Born India to an Iri...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Also at this site i

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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Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Lea Cornthwaite suggested this might be the Duke of Cambridge. Stephen Brashe...

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Nearby Memorials

James Palmer bust

James Palmer bust

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The plaque immediately below the bust is blank but there are 4 others below that, each with an inscription.  The text of the upper three ...

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National Portrait Gallery - Stanhope

National Portrait Gallery - Stanhope

WC2, Charing Cross Road

This building, 1896, designed by Ewan Christian, has 18 busts contained in medallions around the top of the facades. Starting at the east...

1 subject commemorated
Morley mosaics - WBR - Eva Hubback

Morley mosaics - WBR - Eva Hubback

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Left to right: Cons, Martineau, Hubback, Baylis. In our photo the pedestrian has just walked past Baylis. These mosaics are on the Maufe...

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Grosvenor Hotel - head 06

Grosvenor Hotel - head 06

SW1, Buckingham Palace Road, Grosvenor Hotel

This 1860 building, by architect James Knowles Snr, is studded with many portrait busts of which we believe only these 14 are representat...

Grosvenor Hotel - head 03

Grosvenor Hotel - head 03

SW1, Buckingham Palace Road, Grosvenor Hotel

This 1860 building, by architect James Knowles Snr, is studded with many portrait busts of which we believe only these 14 are representat...