Person    | Male  Born 4/6/1738  Died 29/1/1820

King George III

Born in St James's Square (not the public garden, one of the houses, obviously). Crowned in 1760, the first monarch since Queen Anne to be truly British. It was during his rule that many of the American colonies were lost in the American Revolutionary War. Later in life suffered from an intermittent mental illness which made him eventually too mad to rule and his eldest son ruled as Prince Regent, becoming George IV on his father's death, at Windsor. His consort was Queen Charlotte. In recent years the accepted diagnosis has been manic depression.

George III was a strong supporter of Eton College (his local school) and, in return, the school made the King's birthday a holiday and the 'Fourth of June' became a traditional day of festivities even though it is seldom celebrated on June 4.

Journal of the American Revolution describes the toppling of a Manhattan statue of George III in 1776. This had been erected only about 10 years previously but when the States declared their independence a group of New Yorkers celebrated by pulling it down.  A 2021 meme: "After hearing a reading of the newly adopted Declaration of Independence, New Yorkers "Destroy History" by toppling a statue of King George III. And that's why no one knows who won the American Revolution.”

Invested in and was governor of the South Sea company whose trade was slavery. During the campaign to end the slave trade George supported neither side, which, given his position, was helpful to those in favour of retention.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
King George III

Commemorated ati

Duke of York's column

Bronze statue by Westmacott of "The Grand Old Duke of York" of nursery rhyme ...

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General Roy's cannon - south

The cannon was installed in 1791 by Mudge. The plaque came later in 1926. Fr...

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George III at Trinity House

This building was erected during his reign.

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George III in Cockspur Street

Considered to be Wyatt's best work.

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George III with the River god

Bronze statue erected in 1789 showing the king who had commissioned the rebui...

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Show all 16

Other Subjects

Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Native American daughter of an Algonquian chief; birth date approximate. According to colonist John Smith, when he was being held captive by her tribe the 11-year old Pocahontas saved his life by b...

Person, Race Issues, Seriously Famous, Tragedy, USA

1 memorial
Battle of Lewisham

Battle of Lewisham

In the mid 1970s, New Cross and surrounding areas became the focus of racist activity by neo-Nazis and the National Front (NF). This culminated in an attempted march by 500 members of the NF. Vario...

Event, Politics & Administration, Race Issues

2 memorials
Black Music Congress, etc.

Black Music Congress, etc.

A number of groups related to black music history seem to have come and gone; it's difficult to disentangle them. These links were working in 2021: Black History Month, IRDUK (mentioned on the post...

Group, Community / Clubs, Music / songs, Race Issues

1 memorial
Sir Francis Galton

Sir Francis Galton

Biostatistician, human geneticist and eugenicist. Born at The Larches, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, a half-cousin of Charles Darwin. An enthusiastic traveller, particularly in Africa. Darwin's publicati...

Person, Exploring, Race Issues, Science, Africa

1 memorial
King George I

King George I

Born Hanover. When the last of Queen Anne's 17 children died without issue (no one could accuse her of not trying) there were lots of Catholic potential claimants, but Britain wanted a Protestant h...

Person, Race Issues, Royalty, Seriously Famous

6 memorials