Fountain

Charles II - Sloane Square

Erection date: 26/10/1953

Inscription

{Running around the urn near the top:}
Sweet Thames run softly till I end my song {quote from TS Eliot’s The Waste Land}

{Running around the urn near the bottom:}
Gilbert Ledward RA 1952
Presented by the Royal Academy of Arts through the Leighton Fund

{Under the figures:}
Charles II and Nell Gwynn

Site: Nell Gwynne & Charles II (2 memorials)

SW1, Sloane Square

There seems to be some connection between Nell and this area so we asked the very knowledgeable Dave Walker, the Local Studies Librarian at Kensington Central Library, who confirmed that there are many traditions about Nell's Chelsea connections, in particular the establishment of the Royal Hospital, but that many of them are frequently denied by historians. Dave tells us that the Chelsea pageant of 1908 included a lady dressed as Nell. At Chelsea we learn that "Charles II and Nell Gwynne were chosen by Ledward to reflect the journey along ‘the King's Private Road’ that Charles II would have taken to Nell’s residence at Sands End at the other end of the King’s Road."

Bonus fact: The statue atop the fountain represents Venus and, according to Greta Scacchi interviewed by the Guardian in 2008, the model was Pamela Carsinga, who later became Greta’s mother. In 1952 Pamela was training to become a member of the Bluebell Girls dancing troupe and paid her way by modelling for artists in Chelsea.

2019: The Library Time Machine hold a model for this fountain. Their post has a photo taken at the fountain's inauguration by Sir Gerald Kelly.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Charles II - Sloane Square

Subjects commemorated i

King Charles II

Reigned: 1660 - 1685. Born at St James's Palace. The son of the beheaded Char...

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Charles II - Sloane Square

Created by i

Leighton Fund

Originated as the bequest left by Lord Leighton in 1896. Bob Speel provides s...

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T. S. Eliot

Poet and publisher. Born Saint Louis, Missouri as Thomas Stearns Eliot. His w...

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Sir Gerald Kelly

Portrait painter. Born Paddington. Died at home, 117 Gloucester Place. In the...

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Gilbert Ledward

Sculptor. born Chelsea. Studied under EdouardLantéri. Served in WW1 initially...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Charles II - Sloane Square

Also at this site i

Nell Gwynne - Sloane Square

Nell Gwynne - Sloane Square

She's manipulating a fan but meanwhile, unnoticed by Nell, her dress has slip...

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