Bust

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Erection date: 1905

Stephen Brasher suggested that this is Field Marshal Lord Roberts and, having examined a number of portraits, especially one here, we agree.

Site: Knightsbridge - 6 busts (6 memorials)

SW1, Knightsbridge, 55 - 91

This huge building, Grade 2 listed and in need of a clean, is actually 18 buildings behind a unifying facade designed by W. D. Caroe, in red brick with stone dressings in an eclectic Queen Anne/Flemish style. 1902 - 5. Built as a mansion block but unusually there were seven developers who designed their own segments behind the facade.

A 2010 planning application contains a few drawings and early photographs but there is no mention of these busts, numbered here left to right.  

When we published these 6 busts we were pretty confident with our identification of heads 1 and 2 but were struggling to identify the others.  Readers quickly sent in some helpful suggestions, readers more familiar with the faces of celebrities from that period than we are.  So we have corrected our identifications, but if you think we still have it wrong please let us know.

The second floor corner at Wilton Place carries a rather splendid royal crest with the top-most lion looking more like a lap-dog.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Subjects commemorated i

Earl Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar

British field marshal, served in India and the Boer War. Born India to an Iri...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Also at this site i

Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Stalin?  Can't be - for so many reasons, one being that he didn't look like t...

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Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

Knightsbridge - 5 - Temple

We original thought this was Gladstone (who had died only a few years before)...

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Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Knightsbridge - 6 - Salisbury

Lea Cornthwaite suggested this might be the Duke of Cambridge. Stephen Brashe...

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Nearby Memorials

RIPWC - Barret

RIPWC - Barret

W1, Piccadilly, 192-196

The building by E. R. Robson was erected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour, founded in 1831 (the crest in the centre of...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Guildhall - Wren bust

Guildhall - Wren bust

EC2, Guildhall Yard, Guildhall

The arcade contains four modern busts, left to right: Pepys Cromwell Shakespeare Wren and a statue of Whittington to the left.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Caxton Hall - head 4 - unidentified

Caxton Hall - head 4 - unidentified

SW1, Caxton Street, 10, Caxton Hall

Possibly John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. His hat is spot on (possibly standard bishop-wear at the time) and although Fisher is normal...

Bloomsbury House - John Milton

Bloomsbury House - John Milton

WC1, Bloomsbury Square, 2-3

Bloomsbury House was built in 1887 for the College of Preceptors.  Designed by by F. Pinches it is Listed Grade 1.  The College, now call...

1 subject commemorated
Anne Frank - bust

Anne Frank - bust

NW1, Euston Road, The British Library

All the sculptures are inside the main building. See Father Jellicoe for the Gilbert Bayes finials, some of which are/were on display in...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators