Relief

Sport relief sculpture

Erection date: 1934

Inscription

Lord’s Cricket Ground

{Behind the heads:}
Play up, play up and play the game. 

{At left, below the figures:}
Presented to St Marylebone by Alderman David Isaacs 1934.

{Just above the right-most foot:}
Gilbert Bayes, 1934.

Portland stone.  Charmingly modern relief sculpture showing 13 sport participants (including 3 women) all of whom carry their racquets and footballs the way saints carry their attributes of wheels and keys.  The sports represented are: tennis, golf, cricket, rugby, football, rowing, swimming. One of the cricketers is gingerly proffering 'the Ashes'. The central figure is a man towelling himself down, presumably in the changing rooms, and taking the opportunity to show off his physique. A cricketer kneeling down to do something with his bat may really be sneaking a look under the towel. The “Play up” quote comes from the 1897 poem ‘Vitai Lampada’ by Sir Henry Newbolt.

Site: Sport relief sculpture (1 memorial)

NW8, St John's Wood Road, Lords Cricket Ground

This doen't really commemorate anything but it is such fun we had to have it.

The sculpture was placed on this corner following a widening of the roadway in 1934.  Then in 1995-6 the corner was remodelled and a new setting was formed for the sculpture.  Masterfile have a picture of the sculpture in its previous position, with a plaque below.  We'd love to know what that plaque said.

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

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Sport relief sculpture

Subjects commemorated i

Lord's cricket ground

Thomas Lord laid out his original cricket ground in Dorset Square in 1787. It...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Sport relief sculpture

Created by i

Borough of St Marylebone

Created in 1900 from the parish of St Marylebone.  In 1965 it joined Paddingt...

Read More

Gilbert Bayes

Born 6 Oval Road, Camden Town. Also did the bronze group with clock at the en...

Read More

David Isaacs

Alderman in St Marylebone.  Ran a business as estate agent and surveyor in St...

Read More

Sir Henry Newbolt

Poet. Also: lawyer, novelist, playwright and magazine editor. Born Staffordsh...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

William Prangnell

William Prangnell

SW6, Fulham Road, Goat in Boots, 333

The date, 1887, is repeated at least twice more on the building.

2 subjects commemorated
Stuart House - Mary arrives in Scotland by horse

Stuart House - Mary arrives in Scotland by horse

SW3, Cadogan Square, Stuart House, 84

This Queen Anne style house was designed in 1880 by architect F.G. Knight for Oscar Leslie Stephen, a director of the Great Northern Rail...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
CI - 3 - Bread

CI - 3 - Bread

EC3, Cornhill, 32

This entry will increase your word power: "Soke" - the territory under the jurisdiction of a particular court; "Seigneurial" - belonging ...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Lloyds of London 1958 building

Lloyds of London 1958 building

EC3, Gracechurch Street

Phillip Ward-Jackson in his encyclopaedic "Public Sculpture in the City of London" identifies these reliefs as representing the four elem...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Temple Bar memorial - Prince of Wales's typhoid recovery

Temple Bar memorial - Prince of Wales's typhoid recovery

EC4, Fleet Street

This is the site of the 17th century Temple Bar entrance to the City of London. Having become an obstruction to circulation it was remove...

4 subjects commemorated, 1 creator