4 Plaques -- Cleopatra's Needle, Victoria Embankment, Westminster, London, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Four plaques around Cleopatra's Needle details (1) the quarrying and carving of Cleopatra's Needle in 1500 BC, (2) the 1819 gift of the memorial to Britain from the Viceroy of Egypt Muhammad Ali, (3) the process and decision to bring the Needle from Egypt to London in the 1870s, and (4) the loss of 6 men in the sinking of the obelisk ship CLEOPATRA in the storm of 14 Oct 1877 that struck the Bay of Biscay.

The 4 plaques are installed on the plinth that serves as the base of Cleopatra's Needle, which is a landmark along the Victoria Embankment of the Thames.

The plaques read as follows:

[Plaque on north side]:

"This obelisk quarried at Syene was erected at On (Heliopolis) by the Pharaoh Thothmes III about 1500 B. C. Lateral inscriptions were added nearly two centuries later by Rameses the Great. Removed during the Greek dynasty to Alexandria, the Royal city of Cleopatra, it was there erected in the 18th year of Augustus Caesar B. C. 12."

[Plaque on the south side]

"This obelisk, prostrate for centuries on the sands of Alexandria, was presented to the British Nation AD 1819 by Mahommed Ali, viceroy of Egypt, a worthy memorial of our distinguished countrymen, Nelson and Abercromby."

[Plaque on west side]

"Through the patriotic zeal of Erasmus Wilson F.R.S. this obelisk was brought from Alexandria encased in an iron cylinder. It was abandoned during a storm in the Bay of Biscay, recovered and erected on this spot by John Dixon C. E., in the 42nd year of the reign of Queen Victoria, 1878."

[Plaque on east side]

""William Askin
James Gardiner
Joseph Benbow
Michael Burns
William Donald
William Patman

Perished in a bold attempt to succor the crew of the obelisk ship CLEOPATRA during the storm of October 14th 1877"

Type of Historic Marker: 4 bronze plaques Historical Marker Issuing Authority: HM Government Age/Event Date: 09/09/1878 Related Website: [Web Link] Give your Rating:

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