Matthias Lucas and Nelson's Column (1840)

Post date: Mar 09, 2015 5:41:34 PM

In 1838 a Nelson Memorial Committee of approximately 130 people (including 12 Dukes; 4 Marquesses; 13 Earls; 3 Viscounts; and 21 Lords) had approached the government, proposing that a monument to Nelson, funded by public subscription, should be erected in the Trafalgar Square, and the government had provisionally agreed. Matthias Lucas of Wateringbury Place, was one member of this grand committee. He had previously,in 1806, been an organiser of Nelson’s funeral procession on the Thames.

A competition was held, the winning design, being a Corinthian column topped by a statue of Nelson, with a height of more than 200 feet, guarded by four sculpted lions. The design was approved, with the proviso that the height should be reduced to 170 feet. Construction began in 1840. The main construction of the column was completed, and the statue raised in November 1843. However, the last of bronze reliefs on the pedestal of the column was not installed until May 1854, and the four lions, although part of the original design, were only added in 1867.

Charles Barry, who had taken over from William Wilkins (on his death) the design of the square and the construction of the National Gallery (completed 1838) was unhappy about Nelson’s Column being placed in the square. In July 1840, when its foundations had already been laid, he told a parliamentary select committee that "it would in my opinion be desirable that the area should be wholly free from all insulated objects of art".

My thanks go to Sarah Palmer to drawing this aspect of Matthias Lucas’ career to my attention. See the 1840 (548) Report from the Select Committee on Trafalgar Square of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers online particularly paragraph 477.