Goscombe John - Other Work

WORK 20/105 covers the period November 1913 to August 1920 and gives us background information on the choosing of the site for the memorial and its design. The correspondence involves, amongst others, H.M.Office of Works, the War Office, the Committee of the Memorial to Lord Wolseley, Lady Wolseley, the Prime Minister’s Office, and Goscombe John (many hand written letters written from his 24 Greville Road, St.John’s Wood address). We read that it was a visit to Cardiff by the First Commissioner of Works that prompted him to suggest using Goscombe John to the memorials organising committee; He had seen Goscombe Johns' equestrian statue of Lord Tredegar there and was most impressed by it. The First Commissioner wrote " This statue is certainly one of the most striking modern equestrian statues I have ever seen, and I think Goscombe John is well worthy of your consideration as a sculptor for the Wolseley Memorial". We also learn that Lady Wolseley was involved in the choice of uniform which Wolseley would wear in the statue. The First Commissioner had suggested less formal wear ( "the kind of garb he wore, say, during the Egyptian Campaign, or some active service kit.") but Lady Wolseley preferred that her husband be shown in full Field Marshal’s attire. It is also interesting to read that at one point Lady Wolseley wrote that many of Lord Wolseley’s friends wished that Adrian Jones be given the commission. She talked in admiring terms of Jones’ statue of the Duke of Cambridge (in Whitehall). She had seen a photograph of the Lord Tredegar statue but was not impressed with the representation of the horse. Later however we learn that Lady Wolseley had seen Goscombe John’s model for the statue and had been happy with it. From another file, WORK 20/213, we learn that during the 1939-1945 war and after suffering bomb damage the statue was moved to Berkhampstead Castle in 1941 to avoid the risk of further damage and stayed there until 1949.