Charles II
By Caius Gabriel Cibber (1681)
Restored to the Square
Lady Gilbert in 1938
Erected in the King's lifetime - see Fenner Brockway for our list of other such statues.
The statue once belonged to W. S. Gilbert and was at his home, Grim's Dyke in Harrow Weald. It was still there in 1915 after his death, but his widow arranged for it to be restored to Soho Square on her death.
Caroline's Miscellany explains how Gilbert acquired the statue: The gardens were redesigned in 1875 and the statue was bought by Thomas Blackwell who had the Crosse & Blackwell HQ in Soho Square. Blackwell gave it to the artist Frederick Goodall who lived at Grim's Dyke and in 1890 it was sold with the house to Gilbert.
2025: Londonist covered this statue and has a drawing of it in the lake at Grim's Dyke, where it witnessed the death of W. S. Gilbert, by drowning.
Site: Charles II statue - Soho Square (1 memorial)
W1, Soho Square
English Buildings tell us that the charming hut was built in 1925 to "disguise the entrance of an underground electricity substation, built for the Charing Cross Electricity Company. The substation is no longer active and the subterranean space was used as an air-raid shelter during World War II. Now the building is a gardeners’ hut, full of spades and the like."
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