Marshal Foch - Buckingham Palace Road, London, UK
N 51° 29.785 W 000° 08.716
30U E 698151 N 5708895
This equestrian statue of Marshal Foch, a replica of one in Cassel in France, is located on the north west side of Buckingham Palace Road at the entrance to Lower Grosvenor Gardens and opposite Victoria railway station.
Waymark Code: WMN6E2
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/04/2015
Views: 6
Opposite Victoria station, across Buckingham Palace Road, is a copy of the statue at Cassel, France, of Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) by Georges Mallisard. It was unveiled by the then Prince of Wales in June 1930 and commemorates France's most famous general and Allied leader of the Great War, who was made a field marshal of Britain and given the Order of Merit. On the side of the plinth are inscribed Foch's words:
I am conscious
of having served England
as I served
my own country
On the front of the plinth is inscribed:
Foch
1851 - 1929
On the rear of the plinth is inscribed:
Marechal Ferdinand Foch
marechal de l'armee
Britannique, grand-croix
de la legion d'honneur
medaille militaire
membre de L'Academie
Francaise GCB OM DCL
marshal of France 1918
generalissimo of the
allied armies 1918
British field marshal 1919
The statue of Marshal Foch is Grade II listed with the entry at the English Heritage website telling us:
Statue of Marshal Foch on S.E. side of gardens next to Buckingham Palace Road GV II Statue. Unveiled 1930. Georges Malissard sculptor. Bronze equestrian statue on Portland stone base. Replica of statue at Cassel.
The London Remembers website tells us about Foch:
Soldier and writer. Born in Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. He enlisted in the French army in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war. During the First World War he distinguished himself at the battle of the Marne, Ypres. Became Allied Commander-in-Chief in 1918. He wrote 'Principles of War' in 1919. At his death, he was interred in Les Invalides, Paris, next to Napoleon Bonaparte.