County of statue: Merrimack County
Founder: Royal Foundry; also: William Blake and Company
Architect: John A. Fox, 1835-1920
Artist: Thomas Ball, 1819-1911, sculptor
Three Plaques:
right side: Died at Marshfield Massachusetts Oct. 24th 1852.
Left Side: Born at Salisbury New Hampshire Jan. 18th 1782.
Rear: Presented by Benjamin Pierce Cheney to the State of New Hampshire January 18, 1886
Proper Description:
"Full-length portrait of Daniel Webster standing on a bronze plinth, mounted on granite base. Webster is standing, dressed in a suit with broad lapels, rolled collar and two large buttons. Bottom of vest is seen and trousers are full and flowing. Arms are at his side. Proper left hand holds a rolled manuscript. On the proper right rear is a pile of four books surmounted by a manuscript." ~ Smithsonian American Art Museum
Daniel Webster: (1782 - 1852)
Party: Adams; Anti-Jacksonian; Whig
Senate Years of Service: 1827-41; 1845-1850
"WEBSTER, Daniel, a Representative from New Hampshire and a Representative and a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Salisbury, N.H., January 18, 1782; attended district schools and Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.; graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1801; principal of an academy at Fryeburg, Maine, in 1802; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1805 and commenced practice in Boscawen, near Salisbury, N.H.; moved to Portsmouth, N.H., in 1807 and continued the practice of law; elected as a Federalist from New Hampshire to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1817); was not a candidate for reelection in 1816 to the Fifteenth Congress; moved to Boston, Mass., in 1816; achieved national fame as counsel representing Dartmouth College before the United States Supreme Court in the Dartmouth College case 1816-1819; delegate to the Massachusetts State constitutional convention in 1820; elected from Massachusetts to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1823, to May 30, 1827; chairman, Committee on the Judiciary (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Congresses); elected as Adams (later Anti-Jacksonian) on June 8, 1827, to the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1827, credentials presented on December 3, 1827, and took oath of office on December 17, 1827; reelected as a Whig in 1833 and 1839 and served until his resignation, effective February 22, 1841; chairman, Committee on Finance (Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses); unsuccessful Whig candidate for president in 1836; appointed Secretary of State by President William Henry Harrison and again by President John Tyler and served from 1841 to 1843; again elected as a Whig to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1845, to July 22, 1850, when he resigned; appointed Secretary of State by President Millard Fillmore and served from July 22, 1850, until his death in Marshfield, Massachusetts., October 24, 1852; interment in the Winslow Cemetery. " ~ Bio-Guide US Congress
Statue Remarks:
"The idea for the statue of the New Hampshire political leader originated in Jan. 1882, with Col. John H. George at the centennial of the statesman's birth. Benjamin Pierce Cheney of Boston, a friend of Webster's, donated funds for the statue. The original commission went to Martin Milmore, who died in 1883. The statue was then assigned to his brother, Joseph Milmore, who also died before executing the work. In Jan. 1885, Cheny commissioned Thomas Ball to create the work and by the fall of 1885, a model was sent to Munich for casting. The granite pedestal was designed by architect John A. Fox. Contrary to base inscription, the state was dedicated June 17, 1886, on the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill." ~ Smithsonian American Art Museum