Statues - Hither & Thither

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Castle Square - Y Maes

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor
Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester 1863 - Llanystumdwy, Wales 1945
British Liberal politician and statesman. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1916-22; Leader of the Liberal Party, 1926-31
(Wikipedia)

W. Goscombe John
A.B. Burton (Thames Ditton)
1921

Description

Bronze statue of David Lloyd George wearing tail-coat and waistcoat, with his right arm raised with fist clenched as if in the midst of a speech. Left arm flexed with hand closed around papers.

On the sides of the pedestal are texts and two bronze reliefs:

the peace conference paris 1919. Men seated and standing listening as Lloyd George speaks.
the village school llanystumdwy. A schoolroom with children sitting at desks and teacher at back of room.

The Peace Conference Paris 1919

The village school Llanystumdwy

Inscription(s)

the
right honourable
david lloyd george o.m
prime minister
m.p. carnarvon boroughs
and constable of
carnarvon castle

codwyd y cerflun hwn
o'r gwir anrhydeddus
David Lloyd George o.m
prif weinidog
y deyrnas gyfunol
yn rhodd i dref caernarfon
gan Owen Jones Glanbeuno
maer y dref 1919 - 1921
er coffa gwasanaeth
ei gydwladwr enwog
i achos rhyddid
yn ystod y rhyfel mawr

This statue was erected
the right honourable
David Lloyd George O.M.
Prime Minister
of the United Kingdom
as a gift to the town of Caernarfon
by Owen Jones Glanbeuno
mayor of the town 1919 - 1921
A memorial service for
his famous compatriot
cause of freedom
during the great war

(the translation is by Google, please correct)

Signed: w. goscombe-john r.a.
a.b. burton / founder / thames ditton

Annotation

The statue is unveiled 6 August 1921 by W.M. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, [Hughes' father came from North Wales] in presence of Dame Margaret Lloyd George representing her husband. Later on the same day in Hughes opened a garden fete in Criccieth invited by Dame Lloyd George, and finally in Llanystumdwy a bust of Lloyd George was unveiled by Mr. Herbert Lewis, in place of Mr. Hughes who had left earlier in the day.

A comment by the London correspondent of the Birmingham Post (published among others in the Derby Daily Telegraph) was:

The Premier's Statue.
Mr. Lloyd George is the first Prime Minister to have a statue erected in his honour during his lifetime, and if Carnarvon were not so far away good many of us who have seen the great man almost daily over a long course of years would go and have a look at it. To judge from a photograph Sir W. Goscombe John has produced an animated bit of portraiture in bronze. The pose is good, the gesture of the uplifted and sweeping hand is characteristic, and the sculptor seems to have caught something of the personality itself. The figure is that of the Lloyd George of to-day—the Lloyd George of the leonine head and immaculate tailoring. In due time there will, no doubt, be a statue of him in London, and others in various parts of the kingdom. Even Dublin, in a mood of forgiveness, may not leave him unhonoured. I venture to hope that one these effigies will present him as he was in the distant years, when his habitual wear was a soft hat and the sort of cloak that used to be worn the conspirators of illustrated fiction or the villains transpontine melodrama. He was a very good-looking and vivacious young man, fresh from Welsh hills; and he used to hiss his sibilants—a habit to which he sometimes recurs when he is angry with Lord Robert Cecil. The sculptor would have difficulties with the sibilants, but the cloak and the hat would give scope for genius.

Statues of Sir Hugh Owen and Lloyd George

Statues of Sir Hugh Owen and Lloyd George and Caernarfon Castle

Sculptor

Sir William Goscombe John (Cardiff 1860 - London 1952), Welsh sculptor (Wikipedia – Victorian Web).

Sources & Information

Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, National Recording Project Database.
University College for the Creative Arts, VADS (Visual Arts Data Service).
British Listed Buildings, Listed buildings in Wales.
Western Daily Press - Monday 8 August 1921; Derby Daily Telegraph - Monday 8 August 1921 (British Newspaper Archive).

Locatie (N 53°8'21" - W 4°16'31") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: gbwa127; Photograph: 30 July 2012
Of each statue we made photos from various angles and also detail photos of the various texts.
If you want to use photos, please contact us via the contact form (in Dutch, English or German).
© Website and photos: René & Peter van der Krogt

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