Lord Beatty - Trafalgar Square, London, UK
N 51° 30.501 W 000° 07.665
30U E 699315 N 5710269
The bust of Lord Beatty stands against the northern wall of Trafalgar Square. The easternmost fountain is also dedicated to Lord Beatty.
Waymark Code: WMC46E
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/23/2011
Views: 19
The Bust for Lord Beatty sits on top of a granite plinth about 2.5 metres (8 feet) high. The engraving on the plinth reads: Beatty / 1871 - 1936". The bronze bust is about lifesize and shows Beatty in the uniform of an admiral. The bust was sculpted by William McMillan. McMillan was paid £4000 for his work.
The memorial for Beatty was approved on 5th May 1936 but it was not until the 21st October 1948 that the memorial was unveiled by the Duke of Gloucester with a dedication service being led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The 1939-1945 war had caused work to be suspended and it was not recommenced until June of 1947.
Between the two fountains of Trafalgar Square is an inscription that reads:
"These fountains and the busts against the northern wall of the Square were erected by Parliament to the memory of Admirals of the Fleet, Earl Jellicoe and Earl Beatty, to the end that their illustrious services to the State might never be forgotten."
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Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (17 January 1871 – 11 March 1936) was an admiral in the Royal Navy. Achieving career success at an early age, he commanded the British battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, a tactically indecisive engagement after which his aggressive approach was contrasted with the caution of his commander Admiral Jellicoe. Later in the war he succeeded Jellicoe as Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, in which capacity he received the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at the end of hostilities, and then in the 1920s he served a lengthy term as First Sea Lord (head of the Royal Navy).
He is best remembered today for his comment that "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today" at Jutland, where two of his battlecruisers exploded and sank under German fire exacerbated by design faults and poor strategy.
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