Statue

Albert Grant & Shakespeare

Erection date: 2/7/1874

Inscription

{On the front of the plinth:}
This enclosure was purchased, laid out and decorated as a garden by Albert Grant Esq. M.P. and conveyed by him on the 2nd July 1874 to the Metropolitan Board of Works to be preserved for ever for the free use and enjoyment of the public.
{On Will's scroll:}
There is no darkness but ignorance

"There is no darkness but ignorance" is a quote from "Twelfth Night". The sculptor, Fontana, copied the statue by Scheemakers in Westminster Abbey. Note that there is no reference to Shakespeare in the inscription. Perhaps Grant believed in glory by association.

Site: Albert Grant & Shakespeare (1 memorial)

WC2, Leicester Square

The statue of Shakespeare stands rather lumpenly at the centre of a (often not-working) fountain.  Update 2013: the Square has been renovated and the statue restored, the fountain even seems to be working.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Albert Grant & Shakespeare

Subjects commemorated i

Albert Grant

Born Dublin, Ireland as Abraham Gottheimer. The King of Italy conferred the ...

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William Shakespeare

Born and died in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birth date is usually given as the ...

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Albert Grant & Shakespeare

Created by i

Giovanni Fontana

Born Italy.  Based in London and naturalized British by 1871.

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James Knowles

Two architects, father (1806–1884) and son (1831-1908), with the same name, J...

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Peter Scheemakers

Born in Antwerp.

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