Out & About August 2017

OA feature

What’s in a name?

The statue of Queen Victoria adorned the Market Place until the 1930s

We are not amused – the statue was the target of vandals in the 1990s

The statue of Queen Victoria was presented to the townspeople by self-styled ‘Lord’ George Sanger, a showman and colourful character with links to the town, to commemorate the ‘Great and Good’ Queen, who died on January 22, 1901. It was unveiled in the Market Place on June 24,1903. It remained there for 30 years, until, in 1933, it was moved to make way for a car park and market stalls, and spent the next 30 years in the gardens of Greenham House in St John’s Road. Traffic issues again forced its removal – this time to make way for the north-south inner relief road. In 1966, the statue was moved to its current location in Victoria Park, but there was room

for only two of the four lions. The unlucky two stayed tarnished in the Corporation Depot. As ever, townspeople were keen to offer suggestions, which “both constructive and frivolous” poured into the Newbury Weekly News office. Mr P Pocock of Chieveley suggested they might be gifted to the people of Newbury’s German twin town Braunfels. It is not clear what the people of Braunfels thought (or if they were even consulted), but transport costs were felt to be too high, and the risk of damage on the journey too great. So the unlucky two remained in the

Corporation Depot until later in 1966 when they were gifted to Mr Gilbert Beale and spent many happy years at Beale Park, between Basildon and Pangbourne. But Newbury people have long memories and the lions continued to be missed. A 1994 attempt to put them in their rightful place ended in failure, and the statue was often the target of vandals in the 1990s. In 2001, the mayor Dr Sue Farrant, reacting to public pressure, got things moving again, and in June 2002 all four lions were reunited in Victoria Park – almost 100 years after they were first gifted to the town. And that’s where they have been ever since. 

The statue of Queen Victoria with the four lions now has a permanent place in the park

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