Day 10: Of the great, the good and the plonkers

Charles James Fox (1749 – 1806) was one of the greatest politicians who never quite made it. He was a gambling addict, womaniser, debtor, and dandy. He was also a defender of civil liberty. He was overwhelmingly charismatic man. He was Britain's first Foreign Secretary a position he held 3 times in 1782, 1783 and 1806, but each time he used the position more successfully to fight for a constitutionally stronger Parliament than to achieve foreign policy aims.

He was a prominent and staunch opponent of George III, whom he regarded as an aspiring tyrant and he supported the American Patriots. Despite what you may have heard about William Wilberforce it was Fox who championed the abolition of the slave trade in the House of Commons. He proposed the bill that passed into law in 1807 as the Slave Trade Act though he did not live to see it pass.

I tell you all this not because I am off in la-la land but Charles James Fox is interred at Westminster Abbey where there is a fine memorial to him. It was to Westminster Abbey that we were headed this morning.

The marble statue of Charles James Fox features a kneeling black man, who is not chained by slavery but instead serves as the embodiment of freedom

This picture was taken
at Westminster Abbey.

You all know Westminster Abbey. It’s the place where, at the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton in 2011 the world was rocked on its axis caused by the sharp intake of breath by 500 million men at the sight of Pippa Middleton’s figure.

Westminster Abbey can trace its antecedence back a thousand years. Henry III began the present church in 1245. It has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066 and for numerous other royal occasions, including sixteen royal weddings. What many people don’t know is that it’s not an abbey. I didn’t know either. Between 1540 and 1556 the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, however, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, but has the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar". This means it is exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese in which it lies and subject to the direct jurisdiction of the monarch.

The abbey

We set off at about 0930 at a cracking pace in search of fortification before we tackled the delights of the abbey that isn’t an abbey. We took bread in the Cellarium. This is described, somewhat fancifully, as “continuing the Benedictine tradition of providing hospitality”. You just have to pay for it now. The G took a bacon sandwich and some dangerous looking beetroot-based fruit effort and I took some granola and a more sensible fruity concoction.

The contrast with our recent time in India was marked. The Cellarium was quiet and peaceful and when I went to the loo there was not a man waiting to be given 5 rupees for the privilege of watching me pee..

The quire

Thus fortified we tackled the abbey. It was pretty busy as well as pretty expensive. In 1470 following Edward IV’s temporary fall from power, Elizabeth Woodville sought sanctuary in Westminster Abbey (where she gave birth to a son, Edward, later King Edward V of England). She’d be hard pressed these days: she would turn up and they would charge her £20 to get in. It’s a rum world where they charge you to go to church.

Nonetheless we were not after sanctuary, merely a trip round one of England’s finest monuments. The walls were packed with memorials of the great and the good, and presumably the not-so-good. I will not catalogue the entire set of memorials as you can find it here.

Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1833 –1870)

We cam across Poets’ Corner. Not every poet who has a memorial in Poets’ Corner is buried in the abbey. One such poet is Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833 –1870). He was an Australian poet, jockey and politician, though he was born in Fayal in the Azores. He went to Australia at the age of 20 in 1853. In 1864 he performed the daring riding feat known as Gordon's Leap on the edge of the Blue Lake in South Australia. There is an obelisk erected there has an inscription which reads:

"This obelisk was erected as a memorial to the famous Australian poet. From near this spot in July, 1864 Gordon made his famed leap on horseback over an old post and rail guard fence onto a narrow ledge overlooking the Blue Lake and jumped back again onto the roadway. The foundation stone of the Gordon Memorial Obelisk was laid on 8th July 1887”

The inscription reads “Adam Lindsay Gordon Poet of Australia Born 1833 Died 1870”. Interestingly, the sculptor was Lady Hilton Young who was the widow of Captain Scott of the Antarctic.

He was unlucky in love. He fell in love with a girl called Jane Bridges but he did not declare his feelings to her until it was too late and her affections were engaged elsewhere. He wrote in a poem called “To my sister”:

I loved a girl not long ago,

And, till my suit was told,

I thought her breast as fair as snow,

'Twas very near as cold ;

And yet I spoke with feelings more

Of recklessness than pain,

Those words I never spoke before,

Nor never shall again.

Anyway, this fellow has a memorial in Poets’ Corner though he is buried in Australia. In the list of people either buried or memorialised at Poets’ Corner I could not readily see another Australian. Yet I had never heard of him.

A memorial stone. Our Jonas must have been a dude in his day.

On our way out we checked out the Coronation Chair. The Coronation Chair was made for King Edward I (1239 – 1307, reigned 1272 – 1307)) to enclose the famous Stone of Scone, which he brought from Scotland to the Abbey in 1296. Keen readers of my outpourings will have heard of the Stone of Scone before. It’s supposed to be the stone that Jacob rested his head upon at Bethel. Anyway the stone was sent back to Scotland in 1996 but will be returned for any future coronation, assuming of course that Scotland is still in the Union and recognising England’s monarch as its Head of State.

The chair looks decidedly uncomfortable. The G, always the outgoing conversationalist, locked one of the red-cloaked guides (they must have a proper title) in banter. He drew our attention to the back of the chair which, he noted, is covered in graffiti. While Oliver Cromwell was the Protector (1653 – 1658) the chair was placed into storage. This is when the graffiti was added. On the restoration Charles II wanted the chair restored to its former glory but Parliament refused to do this. The graffiti served as a reminder that the King was there to serve the people.

This story may be true but it may not be. The abbey website says “most of the graffiti on the back part of the Chair is the result of Westminster schoolboys and visitors carving their names in the 18th and 19th centuries”. I think I prefer the former story apocryphal though it may be.

The Coronation Chair. Many a Monarch’s bottom has warned its seat.

We emerged from the Abbey into a beautiful English February morning with a clear blue sky and only a whisper of a breeze. We ambled over Westminster Bridge (which was packed with tourists) and walked along Jubilee Walk toward Lambeth Bridge. Lambeth Bridge is a monument of early-mid 20^th Century engineering. It was opened in 1932 and it is painted mainly in red, the same colour as the leather benches in the House of Lords which is at the southern end of the Palace of Westminster nearest the bridge. Westminster Bridge, over which we had just strolled, is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the benches in the House of Commons at the northern end of the Houses of Parliament.

As we crossed the road to get a picture we caused to stop a Jaguar with the rego AUS 1. Resplendent in the back were our very own Australian High Commissioner (Alexander Downer) and his missus. We waved but they did not wave back. They must not have noticed us.

Lambeth Bridge. Painted mainly red to demonstrate that it may be peerless among river crossings. Or it may not be.

A reminder of former glories
when ICI ruled the world
(or at least my world at the time)

Just by the northern end of Lambeth Bridge is Millbank House which was the Corporate HQ of ICI. I worked for ICI between 1973 and 1984 and visited Millbank House on several occasions. I noticed the letters ICI on a shield on the wall of the building whick leads me to suppose that Millbank House was built for ICI soon after it was created in 1926.

A little further along is the Buxton Memorial Fountain. The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial commemorating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834. Wikipedia says “it was commissioned by Charles Buxton MP, and was dedicated to his father Thomas Fowell Buxton along with William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Henry Brougham and Stephen Lushington, all of whom were involved in the abolition”.

The Buxton Memorial; the Victorians did this sort of thing rather well.

Thomas Babington Macaulay: arch-plonker

It does not mention Charles James Fox. It should do. But note the reference to Thomas Charles Babington. He is the plonker we met in an earlier post and I noticed his memorial at the foot of Joseph Addison’s statue in Poets’ Corner in the Abbey. The gravestone reads:

“Thomas Babington Lord Macaulay. Born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire October 25 1800. Died at Holly Lodge, Campden Hill December 28 1859. His body is buried in peace but his name liveth for evermore”.

A memorial bust on the pillar nearby is of white marble by sculptor George Burnard, 1866. The inscription simply reads MACAULAY. Pompous get.

We were due to meet my sister Ali for tea at Browns later in the afternoon and we duly sallied forth, getting completely lost in our search for St James’ Park tube station. Browns dates from 1837, the year Victoria ascended to the throne so it can claim to be Victorian. The G thought she had seen that it was London’s first hotel but it may share that honour with Claridges (the London Claridges, not the Delhi Claridges). Anyway, afternoon tea at Browns is a must: we did it 5 years ago when we were over and The G decided that it should be done again. The G decided on something called the Tea-Tox Healthy Afternoon Tea which consisted of:

• Smoked chicken and guacamole on spelt bread
• Poached salmon and dill crème fraiche on dark rye bread
• Chicory leaf with smoked mackerel and a soft-boiled quail’s egg
• Gem heart leaf with tabbouleh
• Cranberry jelly (cranberry juice, vegetarian gelatine, sugar free xylitol)
• Chocolate tulipe (A dark chocolate cup filled with crème fraiche & British blueberries)
• Mango & coconut rice conde (chilled & set coconut milk rice pudding with an agar agar (vegetarian) mango gel glaze, topped with toasted coconut flakes)
• Chocolate - raspberry soya slice (A velvet cream slice made with custard enriched 'valrhona' xocoline (sugar free chocolate), dark chocolate cream, layered with a gluten free sponge)
• Seasonal fruit sorbet (seasonal fruit, water, stabilizer, sugar free xylitol, glucose)
• Fruit skewers with yoghurt and honey

A pair of people hiding behind a Browns afternoon tea selection. And well may they hide: greedy wretches.

And, of course, a commendable choice of teas. An absolute snip at £47.50. They keep filling your plate until you can eat no more. Ali and I had the standard afternoon: no pretensions toward healthy eating for my sister and me. I shall be seeing my sister again on Sunday for a family luncheon in Northampton.

The G at Browns hiding behind a bush.

We were due to go to see Cirque Berserk at the Peacock Theatre at Holborn. The blurb says that Cirque Berserk showcases “the finest in traditional circus thrills and skills, Cirque Berserk! (there is in fact a “!” at the end of the name) brings this treasured form of live entertainment bang up-to-date in a jaw-dropping spectacular – created especially for the theatre”.

Proof that we bought a ticket to Cirque Berserk! though not proof we went. In fact it's no proof at all; we could have found the ticket.

It’s an easy tube ride from where we’re staying to Holborn and we were there in a flash without getting lost. We were travelling between 1830 and 1900 on the Central Line and it was absolutely packed. The sad thing is that I used to take the Central line at about that time daily (perhaps a bit earlier) and I thought that the press of humanity was normal. Holborn always reminds me of Holborn Viaduct which was built between 1863 and 1869. It was right next to the Coopers & Lybrand office I was based in when I joined them in 1989 and it was undergoing its first major renovation in 120 years. It is a tribute to Victorian engineering.

Holborn Viaduct: a tribute to Victorian engineering

Be all that as it may, the show was entertaining and successfully detracted from the supremely uncomfortable seats. We were in the front row of the dress circle so had an unimpeded view of the action. We did not need dinner after the massive collation at Browns so we were straight to bed on our return. Except for me. I have blogging to catch up on!

A harmless drudge at work