The Brave
Benbow website [ visit link ]
makes mention of the busts:
"Busts, head and shoulders, within
decorated roundels, of British admirals in uniforms of their period. Each
roundel consists of a plain outer moulding with inner circular wreath (laurel?)
topped by single rose motif. The base has an inscription panel with each
admiral’s surname. The innermost moulding is rimmed by a rope. All are in very
high relief. Each head is either more or less face on or at a three quarter turn
to the left or right. They run along the top of the north facade of the building
facing the river. From left to right (east to west): Anson, Drake, Cook (these
first three on east pavilion), Howard, Blake, Benbow, Sandwich (over door),
Rodney, Duncan, Collingwood, Howe, Nelson, St Vincent."
The building
is Grade II listed and the entry at the English Heritage website [
visit link
]
tells us:
"Former rackets courts, now
laboratories. The western block 1874-5 by Colonel Clarke RE, the central screen
and eastern part identical in design and added in 1882-3 by General Pudsey RE to
form a symmetrical composition. Converted to laboratories in c.1906. Stone and
stuccoed facades, roof hidden by high parapets. Seven-bay screen with higher
two-bay ends. Tuscan pilasters across screen break forward into pairs of Ionic
columns set between engaged columns with fluted capitals, all these in antis
under projecting parapets at ends. The parapets are elaborate, with raised
centrepieces supported on swags and urns set on high and elaborately carved
plinths as cornerpieces; all this decoration the work of C R Smith. Rusticated
ground floor. At first-floor height busts in high relief set in roundels depict
from east to west: Anson, Drake, Cook, Howard, Blake, Benbow, Sandwich, Rodney,
Duncan, Collingwood, Howe, Nelson and St Vincent. Nine-bay side elevations and
three-bay rear also denoted by pilasters, the ground floor rusticated under
fluted frieze and with empty first-floor roundels. Above these a deep frieze and
an attic storey also broken into bays by short pilaster strips."
The History of Parliament Online
website [visit
link] tells us about Edward Montague, 1st Earl of Sandwich:
"The career of Edward Montagu, 1st
Earl of Sandwich, is well known. Although his father, from whom he inherited the
former priory of Hinchingbrooke and an estate of £2,000 p.a., had been a
Royalist, Montagu himself supported Parliament in the Civil War, perhaps
influenced by his cousin, the 2nd Earl of Manchester, and his father-in-law,
John Crew. He commanded a regiment of foot in the first Civil War, but took no
part in the second, and did not sit in Parliament after Pride’s Purge. He was,
however, a strong Cromwellian, serving on the Council of State and in the navy,
and in 1658 he took his seat in the ‘Other House’. It was only after the fall of
Richard Cromwell that he became receptive to the royalist overtures conveyed
through his cousin, the Hon. Edward Montagu. He was obliged to resign his
command by the Rump after bringing the fleet back from the Sound in support of
Booth’s rising. On the return of the secluded Members the King gave him
permission to accept appointment (jointly with George Monck) as general-at-sea
and Councillor of State. He went aboard the fleet on 23 Mar. 1660 and sailed to
the Downs, where he purged the extreme sectaries and republicans. He took a
vigorous part in electioneering in the boroughs subject to Admiralty influence,
and was himself returned for Weymouth and Dover. On 3 May he read the King’s
letter and the Declaration of Breda to a council of war, and with its approval
had them read to all the ships’ companies. The fleet sailed to Scheveling, and
on 23 May the King embarked on Montagu’s flagship, the Naseby, re-named the
Royal Charles, for his return to his kingdoms. On taking his seat in the House
Montagu elected to serve for Dover. He sat on no committees, though he had been
appointed in his absence to confer with the Lords on the instructions to be
given to the messengers to the King. On 19 June he was thanked by the House for
his services ‘to his Majesty and the kingdom’. He was rewarded with an earldom,
taking the title of Sandwich after some hesitation, and continued to sit in the
Commons as ‘Lord Mountague’ for another 12 days. On 24 July ‘he thought it his
duty to acquaint this House with’ his new honour, and after another vote of
thanks formally took his leave, ‘many Members of this House accompanying him
forth’.
Sandwich held high naval and
diplomatic appointments for the rest of his life; but both his physique and his
morals deteriorated rapidly at the Restoration Court. In religion, his servant
and kinsman Samuel Pepys
'found him to be
a perfect sceptic, and [he] said that all things would not be well while there
was so much preaching, and that it would be better if nothing but homilies were
to be read in churches'.
He favoured uniformity, just as he
had always favoured monarchy, because they were conducive to an ordered society.
He was well rewarded for his part in the Restoration; to support the dignity of
his earldom he was granted lands and fee-farm rents worth £4,000 p.a. But he was
extravagant; his embassies were expensive, and the wardrobe proved unprofitable.
He estimated his annual income at £8,000, but by 1664 he was £10,000 in debt. He
was drowned at the battle of Sole Bay on 28 May 1672, and buried in Westminster
Abbey.