Erection date: 4/4/2011
{Incised on the front of the stone plinth:}
Clement Attlee
1883 - 1967
{On a metal plaque attached to the wall behind:}
Clement Attlee
Mayor of Stepney 1919
Member of Parliament for Limehouse 1922 - 1950
and Walthamstow West 1950 - 1955
Deputy Prime Minister 1942 - 1945
Prime Minister 1945 - 1951
In 1945 Attlee was at the election count in the Great Hall of the People's Palace, now part of Queen Mary, when he learned that his party had won sufficient seats in parliament to form the first post-war government.
Unveiled by Lord Wilson of Rievaulx in 1988, this statue was originally located in Limehouse. It was supported by the GLC and Tower Hamlets Council and sponsored by Dan and Lily Frankel. The relocation and repair in 2010 was funded by Queen Mary and facilitated by the Council from which it is now on long term loan.
The statue was created by artist Frank Forster and unveiled by Lord Mandelson in its new location on 4th April 2011.
It's rather disconcerting that the plaque refers to "Queen Mary College" as "Queen Mary" as in "... the Great Hall....now part of Queen Mary, ...".
This statue was commissioned by the GLC but was given to Tower Hamlets Council in 1986 when the GLC ceased to exist. It was originally unveiled in 1988 in Attlee's constituency outside the Limehouse Library in Commercial Road. Wikipedia has a photo of it there in 2005.
In 2003 Tower Hamlets closed the library and two years later the statue was vandalised (one of the hands was broken off and stolen) so it was boxed for security, until 2010 when the decision was taken to move it to this current site, under the protection of QMC. The sculptor of the statue, Forster, carried out the restoration and it was unveiled on a new Portland stone plinth in 2011.
Wilson was chosen for the first unveiling because he was the last remaining member of Attlee's cabinet. Mandelson was chosen for the second unveiling since his grandfather, Herbert Morrison, was Deputy Prime Minister in Attlee's cabinet.
Site: Attlee statue (2 memorials)
E1, Commerical Road, Queen Mary College
Our location photo was taken on 2014. We returned in 2024 for the close-up photo and were saddened to see the green area almost surrounded by a wall of large wheelie bins.
