Bust

Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Erection date: 1905

Lea Cornthwaite suggested this might be the Duke of Cambridge. Stephen Brasher suggested Lord Salisbury.   Comparing pictures of the contenders it’s the chin-beard, or lack of it, that convinces us it's Salisbury.

Site: Knightsbridge - 6 busts (6 memorials)

SW1, Knightsbridge, 55 - 91

This huge building, Grade 2 listed and in need of a clean, is actually 18 buildings behind a unifying facade designed by W. D. Caroe, in red brick with stone dressings in an eclectic Queen Anne/Flemish style. 1902 - 5. Built as a mansion block but unusually there were seven developers who designed their own segments behind the facade.

A 2010 planning application contains a few drawings and early photographs but there is no mention of these busts, numbered here left to right.  

When we published these 6 busts we were pretty confident with our identification of heads 1 and 2 but were struggling to identify the others.  Readers quickly sent in some helpful suggestions, readers more familiar with the faces of celebrities from that period than we are.  So we have corrected our identifications, but if you think we still have it wrong please let us know.

The second floor corner at Wilton Place carries a rather splendid royal crest with the top-most lion looking more like a lap-dog.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Subjects commemorated i

Lord Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

Conservative Prime Minister: 1885-6; 1886-92; 1895-1902. Too many names: Robe...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Also at this site i

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Stephen Brasher suggested that this is Field Marshal Lord Roberts and, having...

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Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Stalin?  Can't be - for so many reasons, one being that he didn't look like t...

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Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

We original thought this was Gladstone (who had died only a few years before)...

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Nearby Memorials

John F. Kennedy bust - Marylebone Road

John F. Kennedy bust - Marylebone Road

W1, Marylebone Road, 1, International Students' Hostel

The original bust was first installed in 1965 in Military Park, Newark, New Jersey. Additional bronzes were cast for this site and for th...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators
John Donne bust

John Donne bust

EC4, St Paul's Churchyard

The poetry on the base of the statue is from Donne’s 1613 poem ‘Good Friday—Riding Westward’. That on the shoulder is from 'A Letter to ...

1 subject commemorated, 4 creators
Rembrandt

Rembrandt

SW7, Thurloe Place, 11, Rembrandt Hotel

Building erected in 1910–11 by Metropolis Estates Limited, designed by Delissa Joseph and built by Messrs. Ford and Walters of Kilburn.  ...

1 subject commemorated
National Portrait Gallery - Chantrey

National Portrait Gallery - Chantrey

WC2, Charing Cross Road

This building, 1896, designed by Ewan Christian, has 18 busts contained in medallions around the top of the facades. Starting at the east...

1 subject commemorated
Colonial Office - B11 - Alfred

Colonial Office - B11 - Alfred

SW1, Whitehall, Foreign Office

Statues Hither and Thither has been invaluable in identifying some of the busts and most of the statues. The statues are not labelled and...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators