Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany - London, UK
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Metro2
N 51° 30.378 W 000° 07.907
30U E 699044 N 5710030
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany was commander-in-chief of the British army and upon his death, the members of the army voted to forego one day's pay each to pay for this monument.
Waymark Code: WMDYP4
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/10/2012
Views: 14
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us that Frederick 1763-1827:
"was a member of the Hanoverian and British Royal Family, the second eldest child, and second son, of King George III. From the death of his father in 1820 until his own death in 1827, he was the heir presumptive to his elder brother, King George IV, both to the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Hanover.
As an inexperienced young military officer, he presided over the unsuccessful campaign against the forces of France in the Low Countries, during the war which followed the French Revolution. Later, as commander-in-chief of the British army, he reorganised the army's forces, putting in place administrative reforms. He also founded the United Kingdom's renowned military college, Sandhurst, which promoted the professional, merit-based training of future commissioned officers. In the opinion of Sir John Fortescue, York did "more for the army than any one man has done for it in the whole of its history."
and Wikipedia's article about this specific memorial (
visit link) adds:
"It is sited near where Regent Street meets The Mall at Waterloo Place, in between the two terraces of Carlton House Terrace—the steps down to the Mall are known as the Duke of York Steps.
Prince Frederick, Duke of York was the commander-in-chief of the British Army during the French Revolutionary Wars and led the reform of the army into a capable modernised force. The Duke is remembered in the children's nursery rhyme, "The Grand Old Duke of York". When he died in 1827, the entire British Army voted to forgo one day's wages in order to pay for a monument to the Duke.
Duke Of York Monument from The MallWhen the sum of subscriptions for a monument to the duke reached £21,000, the committee overseeing the project asked a number of architects to submit proposals, and in December 1830 they chose a design by Benjamin Dean Wyatt. The mason Nowell of Pimlico, was contracted to build the column for a sum of £15,760. Excavations for the concrete foundations began on 27 April 1831. The ground was excavated to a layer of natural soil, around 22 ft 0 in (6.71 m) below street level. A layer of York stone slabs at a depth of around 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) was used to consolidate the concrete, and another was placed at the top of the foundations, as a base for the masonry. The foundations were completed on 25 June 1831, and construction of the stonework began three weeks later."