Erection date: 1882
{Incised in the granite plinth at the front:} Gladstone
{Incised in the granite plinth base at the rear:} This statue is the gift to the east of London of Theodore H. Bryant and was unveiled August 9th 1882 by Rt Honble Lord Carlingford.
{Rear of statue:} Albert.Bruce.Joy.Sc.1881
One of only a handful of London statues known to have been unveiled in the subject's lifetime. See Brockway for the others.
Site: Gladstone statue at Bow Church (1 memorial)
E3, Bow Road, Bow Church
When the statue was erected, the workers at the Bryant and May factory (the ‘matchgirls’, who were to strike in 1888 because of their appalling working conditions) believed that a shilling had been deducted from their wages as a contribution to its cost. Many of them went to the unveiling with stones and bricks concealed in their pockets and supposedly some cut their arms and let their blood trickle on the marble plinth. The outstretched hand of the statue has been daubed with red paint on several occasions as a tribute to the women. He now stands guard over some closed public lavatories.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
