Bust

Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Knightsbridge - 6 busts Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Erection date: 1905

Stalin?  Can't be - for so many reasons, one being that he didn't look like this at this time; he was much younger.

Lea Cornthwaite suggested this might be the Duke of York (later King George V).  Stephen Brasher suggested Lord Kitchener.   We compared some pictures and are plumping for Kitchener - it was the position of the parting that convinced us.

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.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Subjects commemorated i

Lord Kitchener

Field-Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, K.G. Born near Ballylongford, Count...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Also at this site i

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Knightsbridge - 3 - Roberts

Stephen Brasher suggested that this is Field Marshal Lord Roberts and, having...

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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

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...

Robert Peel - Embankment

Robert Peel - Embankment

SW1, Victoria Embankment, New Scotland Yard

The Peelian principles summarise the ideas that Sir Robert Peel developed to define an ethical police force. The approach expressed in th...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Bermondsey Library - 1 - Homer

Bermondsey Library - 1 - Homer

SE16, Spa Road, Old Bermondsey Library / Kagyu Samye Dzong Buddhist centre

We would not describe this face as ugly so it can't be Socrates. We reckon it's Homer - he's often shown with a beanie hat.

1 subject commemorated
Old Westminster Library - head 6 - Tennyson

Old Westminster Library - head 6 - Tennyson

SW1, Great Smith Street

Tennyson died October 1892, the same year that this building was 'erected' according to the foundation stone, though above the entrance 1...

1 subject commemorated
02 Croydon - Isaac Newton

02 Croydon - Isaac Newton

CR9, Katharine Street, Croydon Public Library

Built in 1892 by Charles Henman Jr. this heavily decorated complex of buildings makes up Croydon's Town Hall. The building and the rounde...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator