Thomas Fletcher Waghorn - South East England, United Kingdom
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member MeerRescue
N 51° 22.878 E 000° 31.335
31U E 327578 N 5695141
The statue of Thomas Fletcher Waghorn R.N., a standing figure in a coat holding a map and pointing North, was erected 1888 in Chatham, Kent.
Waymark Code: WMH4A1
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/20/2013
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Ianatlarge
Views: 7

Thomas Fletcher Waghorn

The ' larger than life' statue of Thomas Fletcher WAGHORN R.N. rests on a square battered plinth with cast panels inscribed; 
THOMAS F WAGHORN/LIEUT R N, PIONEER AND FOUNDER OF THE OVERLAND ROUTE/BORN CHATHAM 1800/DIED JANUARY 7 1850.

The sculptor was Henry Hue Armstead R.A.Sculpt. (1828-1905) and the statue was cast in bronze by a J. Moore, founder, and rests on a limestone and ashlar plinth.

 

 

Thomas Fletcher Waghorn  (1800–1850), whose statue stands in Chatham, Kent,  was a postal pioneer who developed a new route from Great Britain to India. Waghorn's route reduced the journey from 16,000 miles, via the Cape of Good Hope, to 6,000 miles: from three months to between 35 and 45 days. Waghorn was born in Chatham, England, and baptised at St Mary's Church on 16 July 1800. His father, also Thomas, was a butcher and had married Ann Goodhugh at All Saints' Church, Snodland, on 28 July 1794.

At twelve years of age, Thomas entered the Royal Navy at Chatham, joining HMS Bahama as a midshipman in November 1812. He married Elizabeth Bartlett at St John's Cathedral, Calcutta, in 1822. He became a pilot and took an interest in the early attempts at establishing a steamship route from England to India and the East. But the East India Company - which effectively ran that continent for Britain—showed a remarkable indifference to his ideas.

After leaving the Navy as a lieutenant in 1832, he made the journey to India via Egypt as an experiment to send mail. Disastrously, the journey took four and a half months—but on his way back, he met the Pasha of Egypt, who supported his desert route idea.

Personal tragedy followed in March 1834 when his wife died in Calcutta. By December, however, Waghorn had remarried—to Harriet Martin, daughter of the miller at Snodland and a neighbour of his mother. That month, he also inherited a substantial estate from his grandfather, and the couple lived in Rochester until building The Lodge in Snodland’s upper High Street about 1841.

Waghorn's business plan began to flourish. He set up an agency in Cornhill, London, for conveying post—and passengers—to India via Egypt. Between 1835 and 1837, he lived among Arabs in the desert and laid the foundations for the overland route across the desert from Cairo to Suez. This involved building rest-houses and supplying guides, boats, horses and carriages for travellers.

He became deputy consul in Egypt in 1837 but soon fell out with the authorities. From 1840, P&O set up in competition with him, backed by the British government. Then came another setback: 300 horses died in a plague. It was the end—and the Pasha bought him out.

Waghorn turned his attention to speeding the post in Europe, through the new railway system. He was successful, but the Government reneged on a deal to pay his expenses, for the trials left him £5,000 in debt.

Waghorn died at his London home in Islington on 7 January 1850. He was buried at All Saints', Snodland, just outside the vestry door. The south wall of the nave bears a memorial to him. (from wiki)

 

 

MYSTERY?

So, why does Waghorn point north?  Surely he should be pointing east, in the direction of the great overland route that he discovered?  Apparently the answer to the mystery is this — During the year 1883, a well-known sculptor, Mr Armstead, was commissioned to execute a statue of Lieut Waghorn to perpetuate his memory in the Medway district. The position for the proposed Waghorn memorial was to be a piece of land now part of Victoria Gardens on the opposite site of the road to the summit of Hamond Hill. Mr Armstead was invited to Chatham to inspect it and give his decision as to its suitability. So, on Saturday, 29 November, 1884, Mr Armstead paid his visit and pronounced the site excellent in every way. He also proposed that the left hand of Lieut Waghorn should be seen holding a scroll as the symbol of the plans for the overland route to India. The right hand was to point to the east, and India. 

Unfortunately the proposed site of Victoria Gardens belonged to the War Department, who promptly refused permission for the erection of the statue.  Three weeks later the Chatham authorities,  backed by the strong opinion of local townsmen, decided on a new site, that of the vacant site opposite to the Gibraltar Inn, where it now stands. The idea was that the main roads’ junction there, near the railway station from which visitors from all parts of the country and world detrained to pass into the town of Chatham, was a really fine position for the memorial, not only because it was in a commanding spot, but as also the first thing of interest to catch the eye of the incoming traveller. Owing to Lieut Waghorn having to face the top end of Railway Street, it put the memorial out of alignment with the east and that is why Lieut Waghorn on his stone base points north instead of east.

URL of the statue: [Web Link]

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