Sir Robert Peel In Peel Park – Bradford, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 48.509 W 001° 44.612
30U E 582736 N 5962945
This businessman became Prime Minister of the UK and is most famous for introducing the police force into London. They became known as Bobbies after the shortened version of his first name, Bob.
Waymark Code: WMF2NT
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/12/2012
Views: 1
The Person
Robert Peel (5 February 1788 - 2 July 1850) was the son of a successful business man also called Robert who had become wealthy in the cotton trade specialising in the printing on calico material.
Although the younger Robert Peel also had cotton factories he is most famous for his achievements in politics.
He became a Member of Parliament in 1809 at the age of 21. He became the Chief Secretary of Ireland and in 1813 proposed the creation of a specialist police force which was inaugurated in 1814 as the Royal Irish Constabulary. They were colloquially called the ‘Peelers’ by the locals.
Later he became the U.K. government’s Home Secretary and in 1822 took the opportunity to again introduce a police force, this time in London. Again the police were colloquially named after him, this time being given the name ‘Bobbies’.
He held the position of Prime Minister of The United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 – 8 April 1835 and again from 30 August 1841 – 29 June 1846.
During his second term of office he campaigned for the repeal of the Corn Laws and this took place on the 25th June. The corn laws had originally been introduced in 1815, and were import duties imposed on the importation of cheap cereal crops.
They had been introduced as a protectionist measure to assist farmers who were suffering from cheap imports. Although the laws were popular with farmers and landholders, they caused suffering amongst the poor and factory workers, because it made food very expensive.
There had been so much opposition to the repeal of the laws that it undermined Peel’s position as Prime Minister and 4 days later he resigned as Prime Minister.
However to the working man, especially in industrial cities he became a hero. When he died suddenly in 1850 after falling from his horse a number of cities erected monuments to him.
These details have been extracted from this
web page.
The Statue
The statue is about 1 1/3 life size and is an English Heritage Grade II Listed building, reference
336995 .
The site tells us “Formerly standing in what was known as Peel Square on Leeds Road, the statue
was appropriately re-erected in Peel Park following the demolition of Kassapian's
Warehouse. This was the first public statue in Bradford. Cast lead standing
figure in contemporary mid C19 dress raised on an ashlar monolith drum with
cornice capping. Inscribed "W Behnes Sculp", cast by Robinson Scott Company
of Pimlico.”
It is situated on the main linear path through the park known as The Terrace that runs east to west.
It is appropriate that the statue now stands in Peel Park, because the park itself was created to honour Sir Robert Peel. The park was partly funded by donations from prominent local business men but also by holding a number of public galas held over a period of 12 years.
The park itself was Bradford’s first public park.