Fountain

Passmore Edwards drinking fountain - SE1

Christ Church, Southwark Passmore Edwards drinking fountain - SE1

Erection date: /10/1900

Inscription

{On a bronze plaque:}
This drinking fountain has been erected by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, 83 Lancaster Gate, W, at the sole cost of J. Passmore Edwards, Esq., it being the desire of the donor to thereby add to the enjoyment of those using this churchyard which the Association has laid out as a public garden.
October 1900 

The Christ Church fountain is one of several drinking fountains that Edwards funded through the Metropolitan Drinking fountain and Cattle Trough Association, now the Drinking fountain Association. Another exists in the park behind the former Hoxton library, which was also funded by Edwards.

Site: Christ Church, Southwark (2 memorials)

SE1, Blackfriars Road, Christ Church

From the church's modern information board: "Christ Church Garden is the remains of the much larger medieval Paris Garden mentioned in William Shakespeare's play Henry VIII.  The present parish boundary largely follows the line of the Paris Garden.  The street called Broadwall separated the Garden from Lambeth Marsh to the west and the street Paris Garden itself recalls the origins of the site.

The first church was erected in 1671 but began to sink into the boggy ground and had to be rebuilt in 1738.  The last burial was in 1856 as the churchyard was full.  In 1895 some coffins had been damaged by flooding and 650 bodies were removed from the churchyard and vaults and reburied at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.  In 1900 The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association created a new garden from the cleared churchyard as a public amenity and placed it under the care of the local authority.

... Writers Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley ... and the Rennie family of railway and bridge engineers were parishioners and the church was known to Charles Dickens.

The present building dates from 1959 and replaces the second church which was severely damaged by enemy action on 17 April 1941.  The stone cross in the grass behind the church marks where the tower's cross fell and was listed in the National Register of War Memorials in 2003."

 

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Passmore Edwards drinking fountain - SE1

Subjects commemorated i

John Passmore Edwards

Political and social reformer, politician, peace activist, and anti-slavery c...

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Passmore Edwards drinking fountain - SE1

Created by i

Metropolitan Public Gardens Association

First chairman was the Earl of Meath. In about 1890 the MPGA was based at 83 ...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Passmore Edwards drinking fountain - SE1

Also at this site i

Burning Cross

Burning Cross

September 2013: Our colleague Jamie Davis tells us that the plaque was stolen...

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Nearby Memorials

Henry Shrubsole

Henry Shrubsole

KT1, Kingston Market Place

The King James Bible, Mark XV 43, describes Joseph of Arimathea as "an honourable counsellor". There must be a reason why a royal agreed ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Drinking fountains - Trafalgar Square

Drinking fountains - Trafalgar Square

WC2, Trafalgar Square

It was this Londonist post where we learnt that the two identical drinking fountains on the east and west sides of Trafalgar Square are a...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Magna Carta fountain

Magna Carta fountain

TW20, High Street Egham, Tesco Metro

Interesting that no artist is named for this sculpture. As far as we can tell all the names on the plaque are of those in the council wh...

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Victoria's trough

Victoria's trough

EC2, Finsbury Square

The "C F K" is extremely difficult to decipher, we read it more with our fingers than our eyes.

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators
Ward drinking trough

Ward drinking trough

SW16, Streatham Common South

There is a non-working drinking fountain at the other end of the trough.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator