Bust

Caxton Hall - head 2 - Caxton

Normally both Chaucer and Caxton are shown with full beards but the facial hair on head number 6 looks slightly more like Chaucer's, which leaves this as Caxton. And we found one image of him beardless at Tenanbaum.

Site: Caxton Hall (12 memorials)

SW1, Caxton Street, 10, Caxton Hall

The foundation stone is low down at the right hand side of the building. Above each of the two statues is a bust, both of the Greek god variety rather than any particular mortal.

The 8 terracotta portraits, numbered left to right, are above the ground floor windows. We have identified 4 with varying degrees of confidence and we think the others probably include: John Locke, Isaac Newton, John Wesley. But with only hair style, facial hair and collars to go on it's just a guessing game. Have a go, bearing in mind that you are looking for men considered laudable in 1882. And dead - we don't think living men were ever honoured in this way.

Sorry our photos are not too good, but then, we have to say, the terracotta portraits are not the best quality themselves, though not as bad as this one.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Caxton Hall - head 2 - Caxton

Subjects commemorated i

William Caxton

Probably born Tenterden, Kent. Printer, in 1474, producing the first book pr...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Caxton Hall - head 2 - Caxton

Also at this site i

Caxton Hall - foundation stone

Caxton Hall - foundation stone

The Town Hall Westminster This foundation stone was laid March 29th 1882 by t...

Read More

Caxton Hall - head 1 - Milton

Caxton Hall - head 1 - Milton

But look at head 8 too, that's also a candidate for Milton.

Read More

Caxton Hall - head 4 - unidentified

Caxton Hall - head 4 - unidentified

Possibly John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. His hat is spot on (possibly sta...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

11 Croydon - Shakspere

11 Croydon - Shakspere

CR9, Katharine Street, Croydon Public Library

Built in 1892 by Charles Henman Jr. this heavily decorated complex of buildings makes up Croydon's Town Hall. The building and the rounde...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Queen Victoria - Mill Street

Queen Victoria - Mill Street

W1, Mill Street

High up on a narrow street, this is the best photo we could manage. Her Maj. peers out of a roundel at fourth floor attic level on the Mi...

2 subjects commemorated
Drill Hall - head 2 - Scots soldier

Drill Hall - head 2 - Scots soldier

W1, Chenies Street, Drill Hall

In the spandrels above the entrance door: "Bloomsbury Rifles Pro Patria Semper" ('for my country always'). The technique used for this le...

Noor Inayat Khan bust

Noor Inayat Khan bust

WC1, Gordon Square

The Guardian reports: "the first stand-alone memorial to an Asian woman in the UK" and elsewhere we read that it is "one of the few anywh...

War dead | WW2
3 subjects commemorated, 3 creators
Willesden Library - Shakespeare

Willesden Library - Shakespeare

NW10, High Road, 95, Willesden Green Old Library Building

We think that hiding below hundreds of layers of whitewash is a fine relief bust of Shakespeare. This is at the top of the pargeting (dec...

1 subject commemorated

Previously viewed

Warrington Hotel - Handel bust

Warrington Hotel - Handel bust

W9, Randolph Avenue, Warrington Hotel

The busts are on the Randolph Avenue elevation, at first floor level. We've numbered them left to right. The listing text mentions the bu...

1 subject commemorated
Bronco toilet paper

Bronco toilet paper

E9, White Post Lane

Matt at Londonist found this plaque in 2014. We've hunted and failed to find it, so believe it lost. His notes say the plaque was in Whit...

2 subjects commemorated
Dr Isaac Dorislaus

Dr Isaac Dorislaus

Born in the Netherlands. A distinguished anti-royalist scholar, for Charles I's trial he was assistant to the Solicitor General but did not sign the death warrant. Murdered in the Hague in 1649 by ...

Person, Politics & Administration, Netherlands

1 memorial
Carpenters' Hall - unknown

Carpenters' Hall - unknown

EC2, London Wall, 1 Throgmorton Avenue

The building projects over the pavement with an arched colonnade for pedestrians. On the keystone of each arch, at the ends and along the...

Lillie Langtry - Wilton Place

Lillie Langtry - Wilton Place

SW1, Wilton Place, 8

July 2019: Via Facebook we were contacted by Nick Davis, telling us that this plaque had been removed. We got along to the address in Aug...

1 subject commemorated