Statue of Edward Jenner

A statue of Edward Jenner, the physician, scientist and pioneer of the world's first vaccine, is located in Kensington Gardens in London. A work of the sculptor William Calder Marshall, the bronze was originally unveiled by Albert, Prince Consort in Trafalgar Square on 17 May 1858, before being moved to its present location in 1862. It is a Grade II listed building. The statue depicts Jenner in a seated position with one hand holding papers and is upon a plinth of Portland stone with Jenner's surname inscribed on a front panel of Aberdeen granite. At the base of the plinth is the inscription 'W. Calder Marshall, R. A. Sculpt. 1858'. A descriptive bronze plaque is set into the ground in front of the statue and it reads: Edward Jenner, MD, FRS, 1749–1823, country doctor who benefited mankind. In Jenner's time smallpox was a dreaded disease worldwide and caused many deaths particularly of children. Survivors were left badly scarred and often blinded or deformed. In 1796 Jenner vaccinated James Phipps with cowpox and showed that the boy was then immune to smallpox. He predicted the worldwide eradication of smallpox. This was finally achieved in 1980. Jenner was born, practised and died in Berkeley, Gloucestershire and studied at St. George's Hospital, London. This statue by William Calder Marshall RA was inaugurated by Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, and was the first to be erected in Kensington Gardens in 1862. The cost was met by international subscription. In 1853, the year that United Kingdom legislated for compulsory vaccination, the sculptor Calder Marshall gained attention from the medical community for his bust of Jenner which was shown at The Great Exhibition in1851, and a public fund to establish a London memorial was launched. International donations were generous, but the British public were less supportive, and Caldwell Marshall was left 'seriously out of pocket'. Despite this, the finished statue, unveiled by Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert,…