Summary
Memorial statue, 1854 by Neville Northey Burnard.
Reasons for Designation
The statue of Ebenezer Elliott, 1854 by Neville Northey Burnard, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a well-designed bronze statue wearing contemporary clothing and seated informally on a rock carved with plants and holding a sheaf of corn and book of verse referencing both Elliott’s love of nature and his support for the repeal of the Corn Laws;
* Neville Northey Burnard was a notable Victorian sculptor celebrated for his portrait sculpture, with a number of listed sculptures to his name.
Historic interest:
* Ebenezer Elliott, known as the 'Corn-Law Rhymer', was a nationally esteemed poet and social reformer who established the Sheffield Anti-Corn Law Society, the first of its kind in England, and was popularly held to have been instrumental in the eventual repeal of the Corn Laws in 1864;
* commissioned by Sheffield Town Council and paid for by public subscription, the significance of Elliott was such that committee members for the memorial statue were drawn from across the country.
Group value:
* the statue stands in the vicinity of the listed Mappin Art Gallery in the registered Weston Park, which has two listed gateways and also contains the York and Lancaster Regiment’s Boer War Memorial and War Memorial, a bandstand and a memorial to Godfrey Sykes (all listed).
History
Ebenezer Elliott (1781-1849) was a nationally esteemed poet and social reformer, known as the 'Corn-Law Rhymer'. While he became well known for his poems speaking out against the Corn Laws, he also wrote extensively about nature. After the failure of his family’s iron foundry in Masbrough, near Rotherham, Elliott established a successful business in the steel trade in Sheffield. In Sheffield he was active in both literature and politics and from around 1824 his poetry began to rail against the 'bread tax', the exploitation of child and adult labour and the low wages of the working classes, and advocated free trade; his Corn Law Rhymes were published from 1831 to 1834. He established the Sheffield Anti-Corn Law Society, the first of its kind in England, and was popularly held to have been instrumental in the eventual Repeal of the Corn Laws, which took place in 1864. Elliott was widely respected for his tireless efforts to improve the lives of Britain’s poor and was admired by James Montgomery, Sheffield’s other great literary figure of the time.
The statue was commissioned by Sheffield Town Council and paid for by public subscription. Such was the significance of Elliott that committee members were not only local, but were drawn from across the country with representatives from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Huddersfield, Liverpool and Edinburgh. The sculptor chosen was Neville Northey Burnard. The initial idea was for a stone monument, but Burnard offered to cast the statue in bronze and place it on a granite pedestal for £500, and in February 1853 the bronze statue was ordered.
It had been intended to place the statue in the countryside, but after much debate it was decided to place it in Market Place, which was done in August 1854 without any inaugural ceremony. Pawson and Brailsford’s 1879 'Illustrated Guide to Sheffield' described the statue as 'supposed to be seated on a rock in one of the spots so charmingly described in his works'. In the summer of 1875 the Sheffield Corporation moved the statue to Weston Park on the grounds that it was an obstruction to traffic, but also to remove it from the worst of the atmospheric pollution.
The statue was restored and waxed in 2008 as part of the restoration of Weston Park and its structures, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the City Council.
Details
Memorial statue, 1854 by Neville Northey Burnard.
MATERIALS: a bronze statue on a granite pedestal with a York stone stepped base and cast-iron bollards.
DESCRIPTION
Not inspected, information from other sources. The over-life-size figure of Elliott is shown seated on a rock, wearing a frock coat, waistcoat and cravat. He is holding a sheaf of corn in his right hand, referencing his role as a Corn Law reformer, and has a book of verses, or possibly a folded pamphlet, in his left hand. Around the base of the rock are relief-carved foxgloves and ivy. The base at the rear of the statue is inscribed with a signature and stamped with a sculptor’s mark N.N.BURNARD. SC. The statue is set on a tall, square granite pedestal with a chamfered plinth and shaped cap. It is inscribed ELLIOTT. on the front face in large plain letters. The pedestal is set on a two-stepped York stone base, with a round cast-iron bollard located at each corner.
