Fountain

Viscount & Viscountess Southwood - St James's

Inscription

{On the front:}
Viscount Southwood
{On the back, left:}
To the memory of Viscountess Southwood, whose ashes rest here. 1865 - 1951.
{On the back, right:}
To the memory of Viscount Southwood, whose ashes rest here. 1873 - 1946.

The ashes of both Southwoods are in the memorial at the top of the steps.

The labels behind the cherubs read: "Not drinking water" and "Our sculptures have been 'coded for keeps' with UV permanent marker". These unsubtle labels, the nearby industrial-sized garbage bins and the ugly caravan permanently parked behind all but ruin this attractive memorial. Southwood paid for the laying out of this garden which was designed by Richardson. The sculptures are by Hardiman who also made the statue of Peace which stands in the garden.

Site: St James's Church Garden (4 memorials)

SW1, Piccadilly

Looking at the cafe picture:
- The war damage plaque is on the wall that you can just see on the left.
- On the right you can see one of the four cherubs belonging to the Southwood fountain.

The wooden memorial would be seen in the photo of the Southwood fountain, were it not for the green caravan drop-in.

This former graveyard was opened as a garden, funded by Viscount Southwood, in 1946 by the Queen Mother.

On a visit in about 1998 we found a small hand-made memorial in amongst the plants, to Taffy, a tramp who had made the garden his home and had recently died. When we went back some years later with our camera this, not surprisingly, had gone so we sadly cannot include it here. 2012 - Discovering London (dead link) have a picture of Taffy's sign plus one for Mackerel the Rectory Cat.

2022: Watching the 1952 film, The Last Page, we recognised this garden as the location for an assignation for two of the characters (at about 1.5 hours in, on the TV version of the movie). The space looked fresh and clear of all the clutter that was there when we last visited.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Viscount & Viscountess Southwood - St James's

Subjects commemorated i

Julius Salter Elias, Viscount Southwood

'Fairlight' in Wood Lane, Highgate, was built in 1908 for Julius Elias. who w...

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Viscountess Southwood

Alice Louise Collard was born in 1865 in Hackney, the daughter of Charles Sto...

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Viscount & Viscountess Southwood - St James's

Created by i

Alfred Frank Hardiman

Sculptor.  Born 17 Orde Hall Street. The statue of Lord Haig is his best know...

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Sir Albert Richardson

Architect. Born London. Our picture shows him as 'professor' in 1956.  Apart ...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Viscount & Viscountess Southwood - St James's

Also at this site i

St James's Church Garden opening

St James's Church Garden opening

Mary of Nazareth by Sir Charles Wheeler P.R.A., presented in 1975. This gard...

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St james's Garden - people of London - wood

St james's Garden - people of London - wood

The garden on this bomb-damaged site was given by the late Viscount Southwood...

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St James's war damage

St James's war damage

This church, built by Sir Christopher Wren, consecrated on July 13th 1684, da...

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