Apologies for calling this ‘Men of Letters’ but, as I explain in Women there are very few statues of women in London (apart from Royalty and artists’ models). The only writer among them is Virginia Wolff, who has a bust in Tavistock Square WC2.
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Men of Letters 1 2
Oscar Wilde
Called ‘A Conversation With Oscar WIlde’ this bronze memorial is designed as a seat, so you can enjoy his company and his quote: ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’ Sculptor Maggie Hambling’s work was unveiled in 1998. Oscar is smoking - but his cigarette is regularly stolen.
Adelaide Street WC2
Tube: Charing Cross
Sir John Betjeman
Appropriately enough, the Poet Laureate is standing in St Pancras station which he did so much to save. Betjeman (1906-1984) worked in Dublin in 1941 where the IRA allegedly thought of assassinating him as a spy but changed its mind on reading his poetry.
St Pancras NW1
Tube: St Pancras
Lord Byron
A traffic island at the bottom of Park Lane is a solitary spot for this bronze of the romantic poet - honoured in Greece, neglected in England. At least Byron does have his adoring dog Boatswain for company. Sculptor Richard C Belt won a £5,000 libel case in 1882 over whether this work was actually all his own.
Park Lane SW1
Tube: Hyde Park Corner
Thomas Carlyle
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm RA. (1834-90) sculpted this bronze from life in 1881. Scots-born Carlyle is best-known for his 1837 tome: The French Revolution, A History. He lived nearby for 47 years in 24 Cheyne Row - now a Carlyle museum, founded by Leslie Stephen, father of Virginia Woolf.
Chelsea Embankment SW3
Tube: Sloane Square
Rowland Hill
Another ‘man of letters’. Unveiled in 1882, this bronze is of the man who pioneered the Penny Post, the world’s first prepaid postal system. Since Great Britain was the first country to print them, British stamps are still the only ones in the world to carry no country of origin.
King Edward Street EC1
Tube: St Paul’s
Paul Julius Reuter
German-born Reuter (1816-1899) founded the news agency that bears his name in Brussels in 1850, using carrier pigeons to carry stock market news. He then pioneered news reporting by telegraph, moving to the London Stock Exchange in 1851. He became a British citizen six years later.
Royal Exchange EC1
Tube: Bank
Samuel Pepys
This statue of the famous diarist stands near his former home and his parish church, St Olave's, that he helped save from the Great Fire in 1666. Although best known for his fascinating writings, his administrative work at the Admiralty put the Royal Navy on a professional footing.
Seething Lane EC3
Tube: Tower Hill
www.pepysdiary.com
