Statues - Hither & Thither

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Birmingham
West Midlands (county)
West Midlands

Five Ways

Joseph Sturge

Elberton, Gloucestershire 1793 - Edgbaston, Birmingham 1859
English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (now Anti-Slavery International)
(Wikipedia)

John Thomas
1862

Description

Statue in Portland stone of Joseph Sturge, posed as if he were teaching, with his right hand resting on a Bible to indicate his strong Christian faith. He wears a lapel-less coat of a style favoured by contemporary Quakers. The statue stands on a high pedestal, flanked by two female allegorical figures::

PEACE, holding a dove and an olive branch, with a lamb at her feet, symbolic of innocence;
CHARITY, offering comfort and succour to two Afro-Caribbean infants, recalling the fight and victory over slavery.

On the fourth side of the plinth, the word TEMPERANCE is written (the word is on a gadrooned basin, which used to dispense drinking water).

Inscription(s)

JOSEPH STURGE
1859

he laboured
to bring freedom
to the negro slave
the vote to british
workmen and the
promise of peace to
a war-torn world

Annotation

Unveiled before a crowd of 12,000 people on 4 June 1862 at Five Ways, Birmingham, England, near his former home at the boundary between Birmingham and Edgbaston. In 2007 the statue was restored and re-dedicated, for the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.

Sculptor

John Thomas (Chalford, Gloucestershire 1813 - 1862), British sculptor and architect, (Wikipedia).

Sources & Information

Wikipedia, Joseph Sturge memorial.

Locatie (N 52°28'19" - W 1°55'8") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: gbwm075; Photograph: 24 June 2014
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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