Group    From 1859 

Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association

Started by Samuel Gurney MP and the barrister, Edward Thomas Wakefield. Founded as the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association it changed its name to include cattle troughs in 1867.  London Details have a terrific post about this organisation.

MDFCTA is a great site, aiming to collect all these troughs and fountains, and not just those in London. Do let them know of any they don't yet have.

Now the Drinking Fountain Association, they are still trying to provide water to the public - probably more difficult now than when they started.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association

Commemorated ati

St Pancras fountain

This 'Matilda fountain' is a copy of the 1867 statue 'At the Spring' or 'Earl...

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association

Creations i

Bear fountain

{On a ground level plaque:} 1859 - 1939. Presented by the Metropolitan Drink...

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Beck and Runtz fountain

MDFCTA confirms that this fountain is of a unique design but we can find no r...

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Beloved friend

Is it likely that the beloved friend was a horse or dog rather than a person?

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Buxton water trough - Enfield

{On one end:} The gift of J. H. Buxton, 1879 {On both sides:} Metropolitan D...

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Buxton water trough - Spitalfields

This is the only fountain/trough in Tower Hamlets on the mdfcta site.

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Other Subjects

Towpath Horse

Towpath Horse

We can't find any biographical information about the horse.

Animal, Animals

1 memorial
Miss Rose

Miss Rose

We initially guessed that Miss Rose was a cat but in 2024 Kwok Li corrected us: the plaque commemorates “a loveable little black Pekinese dog, owned by Theodore and Elsie Crombie who lived at numbe...

Animal, Animals

1 memorial
Geoffrey Barkington

Geoffrey Barkington

In the January 2025 RIBA Journal the creator wrote: "I shared a house with friends who regularly looked after a pampered dachshund called Geoffrey. He had even appeared in Vogue, so I am told. I’m ...

Animal, Animals

1 memorial
William Moorcroft

William Moorcroft

Pioneer veterinary surgeon, Asian explorer.  Born Lancashire.  First Englishman to qualify as a vet, in France, during a revolution.  He set up in practice in Oxford Street, creating a horse hosp...

Person, Animals, Exploring, Medicine, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Tibet, Uzbekistan

1 memorial
Dead Parrot Sketch

Dead Parrot Sketch

One of the most famous of the sketches in the television comedy series 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'. Written by Graham Chapman and John Cleese, and performed by Cleese and Michael Palin. Initiall...

Fiction, Animals, Humour, Seriously Famous, TV & Radio

1 memorial

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W. S. Gorringe
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1 memorial
W. Morgan

W. Morgan

Parishioner of St John Horsleydown killed in WW1.

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1 memorial
Harnam Singh, Gnr.

Harnam Singh, Gnr.

Imperial Camel Corps, India Contingent, Hong King & Singapore battery, R. G. A.

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1 memorial
D. K. McFarlane, Pte.

D. K. McFarlane, Pte.

Imperial Camel Corps, British Contingent, 2nd Battalion

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1 memorial
J. C. Sibley

J. C. Sibley

Name on one of the main panels of the East Ham WW1 memorial.

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War dead, WW1
1 memorial