Princess Pocahontas

Princess Pocahontas (c.1596-1617) was a Native American, associated with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She married tobacco planter, Jon Rolfe. They visited England, where she became a celebrity, but died at Gravesend on the return journey. This bronze statue, cast from the original by William Ordways Partridge of 1922 in Jamestown, was presented to the British people by the Governor of Virginia and unveiled in 1958. It is listed Grade II.

Location: St. George's Churchyard, Church Street, Gravesend, Kent.

Dorothy Round

Dorothy Round (1909-1982) (known as Mrs D.L. Little after her marriage) was a champion tennis player, winning the singles title at Wimbledon in 1934 (when she was ranked no.1 in the world) and in 1937. She also won the Australian singles in 1935 and three mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon. This life-size bronze statue, unveiled by her daughter on 20 September 2013, is in her home town.

Location: Priory Park, Dudley, West Midlands.

Enriqueta Augustina Rylands

Enriqueta Augustina Rylands (1843-1908), a philanthropist, was the third wife of the wealthy cotton manufacturer, John Rylands. After his death, she spent 20 years and around two million pounds of his fortune building the John Rylands Library in his memory. She loved architecture, art and books. The Library was designed at her request by the architect, Basil Champney (1842-1935). It rivalled the university libraries of Oxford and Cambridge. When it was inaugurated on 6 October 1899, the anniversary of her marriage, the Manchester Corporation gave her the Freedom of the City. She was the first woman to receive this honour. Mrs Rylands commissioned a Seravezza marble statue of her husband for the Reading Room from the sculptor, John Cassidy in 1894, which was installed when the Library opened. Supporters of the Library commissioned her statue from the same sculptor, also in Seravezza marble, as a pair to her husband’s. This stands at the other end of the Library facing him and was unveiled on 9 December 1907, shortly before her death.

Location: Reading Room, John Rylands Library, Manchester.

Enriqueta Augustina Rylands

Enriqueta Augustina Rylands (1843-1908), a philanthropist, was the third wife of the wealthy cotton manufacturer, John Rylands. After his death, she spent 20 years and around two million pounds of his fortune building the John Rylands Library in his memory. For further details see previous entry. This bronze statuette (h.95cm.) was commissioned by the supporters of the Library. Signed and dated 1905 by the sculptor, John Cassidy, this cast is a reduction of the larger statue. Previously displayed on the fourth floor of the Library, this bronze is now exhibited in the Library foyer.

Location: Foyer opposite the Reception Desk, John Rylands Library, Manchester.

Ada Salter

Ada Salter (1866-1942) was a social reformer, pacifist and environmentalist.  She was President of the Women’s Labour League and President of the National Gardens Guild. She was one of the first women councillors in London, first woman mayor in London, and first Labour woman mayor in the British Isles. Her statue which forms part of a sculptural bronze group, Dr. Salter’s Daydream, comprising the whole Salter family was unveiled on 30 November 2014. It replaced a previous group, of the same title also by Gorvin made for London Docklands in 1991. The statue of Dr. Salter, which was stolen from the earlier group in 2011, did not include a statue of Ada, but she is present in the new sculpture. This represents Alfred Salter in his old age sitting imagining happier times watching his wife, Ada, his daughter Joyce, who died at the age of eight and her cat. This replacement sculpture was erected by the Salter Campaign Group and Southwark Council.

Location: Bermondsey Wall East, Cherry Gardens, London SE16.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) was a crime writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, linguist and a Christian humanist. She is known for her creation of the fictional amateur sleuth, Peter Wimsey. She was fond of cats and the bronze statue, set on a low stone plinth, shows her accompanied by her cat, Blitz. Sayers lived for many years in Witham and the statue, which was commissioned by The Dorothy L Sayers Society, is sited opposite her house and the Library. It was unveiled in 1994.

Location: Newland Street, Witham, Essex.

Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole (1805-1881), nurse and businesswoman.  Her bronze statue was unveiled  in 2016, the result of a 12 year campaign by the Mary Seacole Statue Appeal. It was the first in the UK to honour a named black woman.

Location: outside St Thomas’ Hospital, SE1

Irena Sendler

Irena Sendler (1910–2008) social worker, nurse and humanitarian, was part of the Polish Underground Resistance during the Second World War. From 1935 to October 1943, she worked for the Department of Social Welfare and Public Health in Warsaw, using her position to covertly help rescue Jews. She participated in smuggling Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto, providing them with false identity documents and finding them shelter with Polish families, orphanages or other care facilities such as convents. She saved over 2,500 children from the Holocaust. From October 1943 she headed the Żygota, the children’s section, of the Polish Council to Aid Jews, but was arrested by the Gestapo. She hid the names and locations of the Jewish children, however, preventing this information from falling into Gestapo hands. Although tortured, Sendler never revealed anything about her work or the location of the rescued children. She was sentenced to death but escaped on the day of her execution, because the Żygota bribed German officials to release her. Next day the Germans announced she had been shot and Sendler read the posters!

In 1965, she was recognised by the State of Israel as Righteous Among the Nations and she received many decorations including the Gold Cross of Merit (1946) for saving Jews. The Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest honour was awarded late in her life for her wartime humanitarian efforts. Sendler lived in Warsaw for the remainder of her life and is buried in Warsaw’s Powazki Cemetery.

The Institute of National Remembrance largely funded the statue and offered it to Newark-on-Trent because of its connections with Poland. Many Polish airmen were stationed there during the Second World War and it is home to a significant number of Polish war graves. Former Polish Prime Minister of Władysław Sikorski was also buried at Newark Cemetery for a time.

Location: Fountain Gardens, London Road, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire.

Mother Shipton, Ursula Sontheil

Mother Shipton, Ursula Sontheil (c.1488—1561 ) was a soothsayer and prophet. There are various legends surrounding her life. The child of an unmarried teenage mother, she was born and brought up for the first two years of her life in a cave on the banks of the river Nidd in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. There were rumours her mother, Agnes, was a witch and she was the child of the devil. The abbot of Beverley intervened and sent her mother to a convent, while Ursula went to live with a local family. She was born with crooked back and needed to use a stick, her nose was hooked and she had a very prominent chin, these deformities resulted in her being taunted and she spent a lot of time alone in the woods learning about plants and their healing properties. She married a local carpenter, called Tom Shipton in 1512. The couple were childless and when he died in 1521 she moved back to live in the cave and the woods. People went to her for spells, potions and remedies. In later life, she claimed she could see the future, began to make prophesies and became known as Mother Shipton.

Location: Market Place, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire HG5 8AL

Sarah Siddons

Sarah Siddons (1755-1831), Welsh-born celebrated tragic actress,  dubbed ‘tragedy personified’ by the critic William Hazlitt. She worshipped at St Mary on Paddington Green and was buried in the churchyard. The statue was erected sixty six years later by fellow thespians, the actor, Sir Henry Irving setting up the fund for it.

The statue’s pose is loosely based on the portrait, Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse (1789) by Sir Joshua Reynolds at Dulwich Picture Gallery. It is Grade II listed. The statue was vandalised in 2011. The face was badly damamged and the dagger broken off. It was subsequently repaired through a  restoration project arranged by Heritage of London Trust and London Stone Conservation with added funding from Westminster Council. This conservation work was completed in July 2019.

Location: Paddington Green, London, W2