Explore the History of this artwork, Statue of Queen Victoria, St Helens.
Colonel William Windle Pilkington (1839–1914) was mayor of St Helens in 1902, the year of the Coronation of King Edward VII. Pilkington was the eldest son of Richard Pilkington, who had founded the Pilkington Brothers Glassworks in the town, and he was the technical director and chairman of the company. In order to celebrate his mayoralty, and to recognise the benefits the town had received during the life of Queen Victoria, who had died the previous year, Pilkington offered to give a statue of the queen to the town.  He commissioned George Frampton to design it.Frampton had previously been commissioned during the lifetime of the queen in 1898 by the Queen Empress Commemoration Fund to create a statue for Calcutta (now Kolkata) in India. This depicted Queen Victoria sitting on a throne, a concept inspired by the statue of the queen by Alfred Gilbert in 1887 for Winchester Castle. When Frampton's statue was unveiled in Calcutta by Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, he told Frampton that no future copies should be made of the statue. However, Frampton used the same idea, that of an enthroned queen, for Pilkington's commission, and he used the same model for casting statues in Leeds and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, placing the statues on thrones and pedestals of differing designs.The architects employed for the statue were Briggs and Wolstenholme of Liverpool, and it was built by W. Thornton and Son, also of Liverpool.  The statue was unveiled on 15 April 1905 by the Earl of Derby. The statue was originally placed against the Gamble Institute (a technical institute), but in 1910, with the agreement of Colonel Pilkington and Frampton, it was turned through 90 degrees to face the Town Hall. In 2000 the statue was restored by the National Conservation Centre in Liverpool, and then replaced in a different position on the west side of Victoria Square.
George Frampton Earl of Derby Winnipeg Lord Curzon Viceroy of India Pilkington Alfred Gilbert Edward VII pedestal Liverpool Leeds Winnipeg, Manitoba National Conservation Centre Coronation of King Edward VII Winchester Castle Queen Victoria Kolkata