King Edward VI - St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK
N 51° 29.986 W 000° 07.122
30U E 699981 N 5709339
This slightly weathered statue stands to the left of the main entrance to St Thomas' Hospital.
Waymark Code: WMD32A
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/12/2011
Published By:
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Views: 9
The plaque, on the plinth, reads:
"King Edward VI, Refounder of St. Thomas' / Hospital. The central figure of a stone / gateway erected in 1682 by Thomas Cartwright, / Hospital Mason, to the plans of / Nathaniel Hanwell."
The statue is carved from Purbeck limestone and the base from limestone. There is considerable weathering and some parts, like the hands, have been renovated.
The plinth stands 148cm high and the statue 152cm so is probably about lifesize for 400 years ago.
The statue shows Edward wearing regalia of the day and holds, in his right hand, a mace or baton and in his left a parchment.
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This was the central figure from the gateway to the old hospital in Borough High Street. The remainder of the group, two pairs of cripples, are in a corridor on the first floor in the North Wing. Gunnis cites the following decision of 11 November 1681 in the Minute Book of the Court of Governors of St Thomas’ Hospital: . . . the plan of a scheme or frontispiece to bee made of Purbeck stone before the front of our hospitall to the High Streete, prepared by direction of the said Committee, containing pillars and the Kings Armes and the effigies of King Edward the Sixth and fower cripples to be carved in stone, was approved of and ordered to bee made accordingly. It is further ordered that Mr. Thomas Cartwright, mason, being the person that made the draft should be imploied in the performance of the work. Gunnis also states that Cartwright asked for £190 as the work "could not well be done for less".
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