Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain

Sixteen days after the death of Lord Shaftesbury, a public meeting was held at the Mansion House to discuss a national memorial. A Shaftesbury Memorial Committee, chaired by the Lord Mayor of London, announced that "two statues should be erected to the memory of the late Earl". A marble one for Westminster Abbey and a bronze one "should be erected on a conspicuous site in one of the most frequented public thoroughfares in London". The committee also recommended that a national home for poor children be established (later the Shaftesbury Homes), and launched a public appeal for funds. The Metropolitan Board of Works originally offered a site in Cambridge Circus at the intersection of two new…