Relief

CI - 8 - Books

Erection date: 1939

Inscription

Thackeray, Charlotte and Anne Brontë at the publishing house of Smith, Elder & Co. Cowper the poet, Gray the poet, Guy the bookseller and founder of Guy’s Hospital, lived in Cornhill.

This carving depicts the two Brontë sisters meeting Thackeray, but rather fails to successfully render his specs. Charlotte did indeed meet Thackeray, her literary hero, also published by Smith, in November 1849 but it was at a dinner party given by George Smith.

Site: Cornhill Insurance doors (8 memorials)

EC3, Cornhill, 32

The carved doors are at the right of the building, behind the cyclist in our picture.  According to Esoteric London these panels, listed here in reading sequence (left right, top down), "were designed by the sculptor Walter Gilbert in 1939. Gilbert modelled each of the reliefs in clay and from this the two mahogany doors were carved by B. P. Arnold at H. H. Martyn & Co. Ltd of Cheltenham 'architectural decorators and furnishers'."

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
CI - 8 - Books

Subjects commemorated i

Smith, Elder & Co.

Publishers at 65 Cornhill (the picture) until 1868.  Also at 15 Waterloo Plac...

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Anne Brontë

Novelist and poet.  Born Yorkshire.  Youngest member of the Bonte literary fa...

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Charlotte Brontë

Novelist and poet.  Born Yorkshire, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters.  ...

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William Cowper

Poet and hymn writer.  Born Berkhamsted.  Spent his early years at Westminste...

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Thomas Gray

Poet.  Born Cornhill.  Wrote ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ and the ...

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Show all 7

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
CI - 8 - Books

Created by i

B. P. Arnold

Bernard Philip Arnold M.M., was born on 30 May 1893 in Birmingham, Warwickshi...

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Walter Gilbert

Sculptor.  Born Rugby.  Cousin to Sir Alfred Gilbert.  His son, Donald, also ...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
CI - 8 - Books

Also at this site i

CI - 1 -  Christianity

CI - 1 - Christianity

St Peter’s Cornhill founded by King Lucius 179 AD to be an Archbishop’s see a...

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CI - 2 - Eleanor

CI - 2 - Eleanor

We can't find proof that her route was as specified: from Queen Hithe (at the...

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CI - 3 - Bread

CI - 3 - Bread

This entry will increase your word power: "Soke" - the territory under the ju...

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CI - 4 - Market

CI - 4 - Market

Cornhill the only market allowed to be held after noon in the 14th century.

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CI - 5 - Drapers

CI - 5 - Drapers

Birche Lane, Cornhill, place of considerable trade for men’s apparel, 1604.

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Nearby Memorials

Sir Jacob Epstein - Roper's Garden

Sir Jacob Epstein - Roper's Garden

SW3, Old Church Street, Roper’s Garden

The text is inscribed on the reverse of the relief.

2 subjects commemorated, 3 creators
Women's Social and Political Union - prisoners' badge

Women's Social and Political Union - prisoners' badge

SW1, Abingdon Street, Victoria Tower Gardens

The sculpture shows a WSPU prisoners' badge. This was designed by Sylvia Pankhurst - see there for more information about it.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Saville Theatre - Chester Players

Saville Theatre - Chester Players

WC2, Shaftesbury Avenue, Odeon Covent Garden

The ‘Drama Through the Ages’ frieze is by Gilbert Bayes. The listing says "Bayes' frieze is one of the largest and most important works o...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Queen Anne's Bounty

Queen Anne's Bounty

SW1, Great Smith Street

Queen Anne's Bounty Office operated from this site 1734 - 1947. Westminster’s Conservation Area Audit informs that this is actually the b...

2 subjects commemorated
Dolphin pub

Dolphin pub

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The building boasted (at least) two of these plaques, but this was the only one that we could see in 2015. An odd dolphin, with a tail m...

1 subject commemorated