Monarchs – Queen Victoria – Scarborough, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 54° 16.894 W 000° 23.890
30U E 669377 N 6017972
This statue was unveiled in 1903, two years after Queen Victoria’s death.
Waymark Code: WMF2NK
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/12/2012
Views: 2
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. She was awarded the title of The Empress of India in 1877. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.
She had 9 children during her marriage to Prince Albert. Their nine children and 26 of their 34 grandchildren who survived childhood married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe".
Victoria had been a much loved figure before and after she became queen, but after he died in 1861 aged only 42, she fell into a state of depression and largely withdrew from public life. However after 20 years or so, she slowly re-entered public life and after her jubilees was fully restored to public favour.
Details of the statue
The
statue was originally designed by Charles Bell Birch in 1893 to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The original 4 metre high statue was sent to India and erected in Udaipur.
After her death a number of copies of the statue were made including this one. It stands in the gardens outside the Scarborough town hall that opened in 1903. The gardens are on top of a hill overlooking the sea down below. The statue though is positioned with Victoria looking inland.
She is shown with an orb in left hand and sceptre in her right. Her crown is decorated with Tudor roses and she is wearing a Star of India on her breast. She wears a textured shawl with lace at breast and cuffs and a dress that falls over the base of the monument.
Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Henry of Battenburg unveiled the statue and opened the
town hall in July 1903.
The monument became an English Heritage Grade II listed building reference number
446714 on 8th June 1973.