Part 10 (1/2)
Thynne, Rifle Brigade.
The fourth figure is Gideon, and in the medallion he is occupied in thres.h.i.+ng the corn, as when he received his call and commission to deliver Israel from the Midianites.--Judges vi. 11. This window is erected by the comrades of Captain William Robert Moorsom, forming the first division of the army in Oude, under the Command of Sir James Outram, of which he was Deputy-a.s.sistant Quartermaster-General.
The fifth figure is David, and the medallion exhibits his triumph over Goliath.--1 Sam. xvii. 15. This window is erected by the Rev. T. Lovick Cooper, Vicar of Empingham, Rutlands.h.i.+re, father of Lovick Emilius Cooper, Rifle Brigade.
The sixth window is Jonathan, and the medallion refers to the account of his surprising and discomfiting the garrison of the Philistines, with no other a.s.sistance than of his armour-bearer.--1 Sam. xiv. 4-6. This window is erected by Mrs. Bankes, mother of William George Hawtrey Bankes, Cornet, seventh Hussars.
The seventh window in the West Aisle of the North Transept is erected in memory of Brigadier the Honourable Adrian Hope, by his relations, and is ill.u.s.trative of those pa.s.sages in the career of Asa, as recorded in 2 Chronicles xiv. 5. 11, 12. His destruction of idols in the city of Judah, verse 5; his prayer, verse 11; his victory over the Ethiopians, verse 12.
Sir WILLIAM WEBB FOLLETT, Knt., who was at the time of his decease representative in Parliament for the City of Exeter, and Attorney-General to Queen Victoria. Of unblemished conduct in every relation of life, of manners gentle and prepossessing, combining with great legal knowledge extraordinary powers of persuasive eloquence, he attained, with the esteem, admiration, and good-will of all who witnessed his brilliant career, the highest eminence as an advocate and a Parliamentary speaker.
The general hope and expectation that he was destined for the highest honours of the law were blighted by his untimely death. Died June 28, 1845, aged forty-eight.
A bust to the memory of GEORGE GORDON, Earl of Aberdeen, K.T., K.G. Born January 28th, 1784; died December 14th, 1860. Amba.s.sador, Secretary of State, Prime Minister.--_M. n.o.ble, S.C._
Next to this on your left is a monument sacred to the memory of ELIZABETH WARREN, daughter of Henry Southwell, Esq., of Wisbeach, in the county of Cambridge, and widow of the Right Rev. John Warren, D.D., late Lord Bishop of Bangor:--”She was distinguished for the purity of her taste, and the soundness of her judgment; her prudence and discrimination were in no instances more conspicuous, than in selecting the objects of her extensive charity. The widow and the fatherless were protected and relieved, and the virtuous who had fallen from prosperity, had peculiar claims to her benevolence. Though mild and gentle in her manners, yet she was remarkable for the firmness and vigour of her mind. Stedfast in the faith of Christ, she lived to ill.u.s.trate his precepts, and died reposing on his merits and intercession. She departed this life, March 29, 1816, aged eighty-three. Her surviving sister, Mary, widow of the Right Honourable Sir James Eyre, Knt., Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, in testimony of her sincere affection, has erected this monument to her memory.”--It represents a houseless wanderer with an infant in her arms, on a square pedestal; the figure with its draperies is very generally admired.--_Sir Richard Westmacott, sculptor._
Sir HENRY BLACKWOOD, with this inscription:--”Sacred to the memory of Vice-Admiral the Honourable Sir Henry Blackwood, Bart., K.C.B., G.C.H., who died December, 13, 1832, aged 63 years, 51 of which he had spent in the active service of his profession, distinguished by his energy, prompt.i.tude, and bravery, qualities which derived additional l.u.s.tre from the virtues which adorned his personal character; with valour combining a strong sense of religion, and the elevation of an upright n.o.ble mind, with all the endearing feelings of a manly, generous, and benevolent heart.
This tribute of sorrow and affection to the memory of one so justly honoured and beloved, is offered by his deeply afflicted widow and his surviving children.”--_Behnes, sculptor._
In memory of the Right Honourable Sir GEORGE CORNEWALL LEWIS, Baronet, of Harpton Court, in the County of Radnor; successively Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for the Home and War Departments. The bust is erected by many friends, to mark their affectionate esteem and admiration, and to record his honoured name among the ill.u.s.trious dead who lie buried within these walls. Born April 21, 1806; died April 13, 1863.--_Weekes, R.A., sculptor._
A monument erected by the East India Company, as a memorial of the military talents of Lieutenant-General Sir EYRE COOTE, K.B., Commander-in-chief of the British forces in India, who, by the success of his arms, in the year 1760 and 1761, expelled the French from the coast of Coromandel. In 1781 and 1782 he again took the field in the Carnatic, in opposition to the united strength of the French and Hyder Ally, and in several engagements defeated the numerous forces of the latter; but death interrupted his career of glory, on the 27th April, 1783, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. It consists of two figures as large as life; one a Mahratta captive, weeping beside a trophy of Persian armour, represents a province subdued; he is holding a cornucopia inverted, the contents of which are falling into a Britannia's s.h.i.+eld. The other, a Victory, having erected a trophy, is decorating it with the portrait of Sir Eyre Coote, by hanging it on a palm-tree, which rises from behind the armour. The elephant on the sarcophagus marks the scene of action. The Mahratta figure is particularly admired.--_Banks, sculptor._
A bust with the following inscription:--”Amidst the memorials of maturer greatness, this tribute of private affection and public honour records the talents, virtues, and early death of the Right Honourable CHARLES BULLER, who, as an independent Member of Parliament, and in the discharge of important offices of state, united the deepest human sympathies with wide and philosophic views of government and mankind; and pursued the n.o.blest political and social objects, above party spirit, and without an enemy.
His character was distinguished by sincerity and resolution, his mind by vivacity and clearness of comprehension; while the vigour of expression and singular wit that made him eminent in debate, and delightful in society, were tempered by a most gentle and generous disposition; earnest in friends.h.i.+p and benevolent to all. The British Colonies will not forget the statesman who so well appreciated their desires and their destinies; and his country, recalling what he was, deplores the vanished hope of all he might have become. He was born August, 1806; he died Nov. 29, 1848.”
A bust sacred to the memory of the Right Honourable WARREN HASTINGS, Governor-General of Bengal; Member of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, LL.D., F.R.S., descended from the elder branch of the ancient and n.o.ble family of Huntingdon. Selected for his eminent talents and integrity, he was appointed by Parliament, in 1773, the first Governor-General of India, to which high office he was thrice re-appointed by the same authority. Presiding over the India Governments during thirteen years of a most eventful period, he restored the affairs of the East India Company from the deepest distress to the highest prosperity, and rescued their possessions from a combination of the most powerful enemies ever leagued against them. In the wisdom of his counsels, and the energy of his measures, he found unexhausted resources, and successfully sustained a long, varied, and multiplied war with France, Mysore, and the Mahratta states, whose power he humbled, and concluded an honourable peace, for which, and for his distinguished services, he received the thanks of the East India Company, sanctioned by the Board of Control. The kingdom of Bengal, the seat of his Government, he ruled with a mild and equitable sway, preserved it from invasion, and, while he secured to its inhabitants the enjoyment of their customs, laws, and religion, and the blessings of peace, was rewarded by their affection and grat.i.tude; nor was he more distinguished by the highest qualities of a statesman and a patriot, than by the exercise of every Christian virtue. He lived for many years in dignified retirement, beloved and revered by all who knew him, at his seat of Daylesford, in the county of Worcester, where he died in peace, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, August 22, 1818. This memorial was erected by his beloved wife and disconsolate widow, M. A. Hastings.
Over the inscription is a bust, greatly like him, executed by Mr. Bacon.
A statue to the memory of FRANCIS HORNER, who, by the union of great and various acquirements, with inflexible integrity, and unwearied devotion to the interests of the country, raised himself to an eminent station in society, and was justly considered to be one of the most distinguished members of the House of Commons. He was born at Edinburgh in 1778, was called to the bar both of England and Scotland; and closed his short but useful life at Pisa, in 1817. His death was deeply felt, and publicly deplored in Parliament. His affectionate friends and sincere admirers, anxious that some memorial should exist of merit universally acknowledged, of expectations which a premature death could alone have frustrated, erected this monument, A.D. 1823.--_Chantrey, sculptor._
Brigadier-General HOPE, Lieutenant-Governor of the province of Quebec, where he died in 1789, aged forty-three years. The design of it is simply an Indian, whose affection has drawn her to the monument; she kneels on the pedestal, and bending over the sarcophagus, expresses that sorrow which the loss of such a benefactor has occasioned. A rudder is introduced, emblematical of his situation as Governor: the serpent and mirror, engraved thereon, point out the prudence of his administration; and a cornucopia conveys the idea of the felicity of it.--_Bacon, sculptor._
To the memory of JONAS HANWAY, Esq., celebrated for his universal feeling for the distressed, having been an active friend to the following charities, viz.,--the Foundling, Magdalen, and Marine Society. The expense was defrayed by voluntary subscriptions. On a sarcophagus, the Society is here represented in bas-relief; viz.,--Britannia, with her emblems of Government, Peace, War, Trade, and Navigation, who, with benign countenance, distributes clothes to poor boys to be trained to sea; over this a medallion of the deceased is fixed on a pyramid, upon the top of which is a lamp, emblematic of perpetual light,--”Sacred to the memory of Jonas Hanway, who departed this life September 5, 1786, aged seventy-four; but whose name liveth, and will ever live, whilst active piety shall distinguish the Christian, integrity and truth shall recommend the British merchant, and universal kindness shall characterize the citizen of the world. The helpless Infant, nurtured through his care; the friendless Prost.i.tute sheltered and reformed; the hopeless Youth rescued from misery and ruin, and trained to serve and to defend his country, uniting in one common strain of grat.i.tude, bear testimony to their benefactor's virtues: this was the friend and father of the poor.”--_F. Moore, sculptor._
Sir CLIFTON WINTRINGHAM, Bart., is represented visiting a sick and distressed family; underneath is the figure of his lady, kneeling and bewailing her loss.--”Sacred to the memory of Sir Clifton Wintringham, Bart., M.D., who, no less eminent as a physician, both at home and in the army, than beloved on account of his virtuous life and engaging manners, died lamented by all, January 10, 1794, aged eighty-three. His widow, Ann Wintringham, caused this monument to be erected, as a last testimony of her love for him when living, and of the sincere regret she feels for her loss.”--_Banks, sculptor._
A truly admirable bust of the late RICHARD COBDEN. Born June 3, 1804; died April 2, 1865, and was buried at West Lavington, in Suss.e.x.--_Thos.
Woolner, sculptor._
A bust to the memory of Major-General Sir HERBERT BENJAMIN EDWARDS, K.C.B., K.C.S.I., D.C.L., LL.D., who in early life, as a Subaltern of the East Indian Company's Army, by his fertility of resource, and in prompt.i.tude in action, struck the first victorious blow at the Insurrection in the Punjab in 1848. Who in later years, by his courage, sagacity, and mastery over men, ever animated by Christian principle, won an enduring place in the affections of the people to whose welfare he had long devoted himself, and in 1847, at a time of unexampled danger, greatly contributed to the security of the Frontier, and to the salvation of the British Empire in India. Born November 12th, 1819; died December 23rd, 1868.
To the memory of Major-General COOTE MANNINGHAM.--”Sacred to the memory of Major-General Coote Manningham, Colonel of the ninety-fifth, or Rifle Regiment of Infantry, and Equerry to the King; in testimony of a friends.h.i.+p which commenced in early youth, was matured and confirmed by time, remains unchilled by death, and humbly looks for a reunion in eternity. The distinguished soldier to whom friends.h.i.+p erects this inadequate memorial, began his career of military action at the siege of Gibraltar, and concluded it at the victory of Corunna, to which his skill and gallantry conspicuously contributed. He fell an early victim to the vicissitudes of climate, and the severities of war, and died 26th Aug., 1809, aged forty-four. Yet, reader, regard not his fate as premature, since his cup of glory was full, and he was not summoned till his virtue and patriotism had achieved even here a brilliant recompense: for his name is engraved on the annals of his country. In him the man and the Christian tempered the warrior, and England might proudly present him to the world as the model of a British soldier.” Erected by Lieutenant-General Thomas Hislop, Commander-in-Chief, &c., at Bombay, in the East Indies, anno 1813.--_Bacon, jun., sculptor._
GEORGE MONTAGUE DUNK, Earl of Halifax.--His Lords.h.i.+p's bust conveys a very striking likeness of the original. It is supported by two emblematical figures, one holding a mirror, supposed to be Truth, with his foot on a mask, trampling on Falsehood; the other, Honour, presenting the ensigns of the Garter. It is also decorated with various other emblems, alluding to the different public posts of honour which his Lords.h.i.+p held at different times. The inscription is as follows:--”Sacred be the monument which is here raised by grat.i.tude and respect, to perpetuate the memory of George Montague Dunk, Earl of Halifax, Knight of the most n.o.ble Order of the Garter, whose allegiance, integrity, and abilities, alike distinguished and exalted him in the reigns of George II. and George III. In the year 1745 (an early period of his life), he raised and commanded a regiment, to defend his King and country against the alarming insurrection in Scotland.
He was soon after appointed first Lord of Trade and Plantations in which department he contributed so largely to the commerce and splendour of America, as to be styled, 'Father of the Colonies.' At one and the same time he filled the united great offices of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Princ.i.p.al Secretary of State, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
He was afterwards appointed Lord Privy Seal; on the resignation thereof he was recalled to the important duties of Princ.i.p.al Secretary of State, and died (in possession of the Seals) June 8, 1771. His worth in private life was eminent and extensive, and was best testified in the honour and esteem which were borne him living, and the lamentations bestowed upon his ashes.