Person    | Male  Born 5/7/1853  Died 26/3/1902

Cecil Rhodes

Mining magnate and politician in southern Africa. Prime Minister of the Cape Colony 1890-96. As a businessman he founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895.

Born and grew up in Bishop's Stortford, made his fortune in the diamond trade with his De Beers company. A declared racist at a time when that was an acceptable position especially in the British Empire. Died South Africa.

The house in which he was born is home to a museum and arts centre, formerly known as the Rhodes Art Complex. In 2020, following the Black Lives Matter protests, the name was changed to the South Mill Arts.

2021: The 'Rhodes Must Fall' campaign, dedicated to the removal of a statue of Rhodes on the facade of Oriel College, Oxford, met a set back when an investigation into the issue came to the 'nuanced conclusion' that amounted to deciding to keep the statue. The college "will accept other proposals to improve equality and diversity amongst its students and academics. It will also work on the “contextualisation” of the relationship with Rhodes."

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Cecil Rhodes

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Physical Energy

{On a plaque laid into the ground in front of the statue:} George Frederic Wa...

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Crosskey's Inn

Crosskey's Inn

In the late 1500s plays were performed in the inn-yard. The Inn was destroyed in the Great Fire.

Building, Commerce, Food & Drink, Theatre

1 memorial
Bull and Mouth Inn

Bull and Mouth Inn

A coaching inn. From British History: "Burnt in the {1666 Great} Fire and rebuilt. Rebuilt about 1830-1 as the Queen's Hotel. Demolished 1887. The inn is said to have derived its name from the sign...

Building, Commerce, Food & Drink, Transport

2 memorials
Wereldhave

Wereldhave

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Group, Commerce, Property

1 memorial
New Mermaid Tavern, Mare Street

New Mermaid Tavern, Mare Street

This section of Mare Street was at the time known as Church Street.  The area around was the Mermaid Gardens which were used for balloon flights, amongst other things.  The (old) Mermaid Tavern was...

Building, Commerce, Food & Drink

1 memorial
Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall Market

The meat and fish Market first occupied a series of courts, behind the grand lead-roofed city mansion of Nevill House on Leadenhall Street, in the 14th Century. As early as 1321 it was an establis...

Place, Commerce, Food & Drink

1 memorial

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Richard de Montfichet

Richard de Montfichet

Birth date approximate.  Essex landowner.  One of the twenty-five barons appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Charta.

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1 memorial
Charles Cowden Clarke

Charles Cowden Clarke

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Person, Literature, Poetry, Italy

1 memorial
Spa Road Station

Spa Road Station

A terminus of the London and Greenwich Railway, London's first railway. The original station was badly located and had a very narrow platform. Passengers were supposed to queue on the steps outside...

Building, Transport

2 memorials
Dorothy Richardson

Dorothy Richardson

Author and journalist.  Born Abingdon and brought up in Putney. Her father was bankrupt and her mother had died by suicide by the time Dorothy was 22. Moved to Bloomsbury in 1896 and while working ...

Person, Gender Issues, Literature

1 memorial
Chenies Street War Memorial

Chenies Street War Memorial

WC1, Chenies Street

Prior to WW2 this crescent was occupied by a landscaped garden and was quite a swanky address. Ornamental Passions has an article on the...

4 subjects commemorated