Joseph Priestley - Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, UK - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

The statue was sculpted by Francis John Williamson. It was unveiled in its original position on 1st August 1874.

This statue shows the scientist at the age of 41 making the experiment which led to his discovery of 'dephlogisticated air' - oxygen as we now know it. He is shown directing the rays of the sun through a lens onto some redoxide of mercury in a crucible over which he holds an inverted test-tube. The statue is unusual in its self-containment and in its narrative element. Priestley is absorbed in his own activity, he does not acknowledge the spectator as many monumental statues do.

A Priestley Memorial Committee was formed in Birmingham in 1871 and it was decided that subscriptions should be solicited to provide a tablet to mark the site of his house, to erect a portrait statue and to establish a prize fund in his name. The statue, originally carved in marble, was produced at a cost of £972 by Williamson and was unveiled on the eastern side of the Town Hall on 1st August 1874. This was the first monumental statue by Williamson and his first public work for the city. In 1951 the statue was removed and cast in bronze and in 1980 it was placed in its present position alongside the statue of James Watt by Munro.

Joseph Priestley was born at Birstall, Yorkshire. He received a dissenting theological education and was ordained in 1762 at Warrington. He continued a life-long enquiry into theology and the history of Christianity, and from 1758 began equally serious scientific experiments, discovering oxygen in 1774. He came to Birmingham in 1780 and became the minister of the New Meeting. He re-organized Birmingham Public Library in 1782 and dined once a month with the Lunar Society. On 14th July 1791 a mob antagonistic to Priestley's dissent and presumed republicanism attacked his house and destroyed his papers and apparatus. Priestley was forced to flee the town never to return, dying in America






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