Statue to Sir Charles Mark Palmer

Details

JARROW

388/1/100 GRANGE ROAD
(South side)
STATUE TO SIR CHARLES MARK PALMER

(Formerly listed as:
TYNE STREET
STATUE TO SIR CHARLES MARK PALMER, EAST OF TYNE PEDESTRIAN TUNNEL ENTRANCE)

26-FEB-85

II

Statue to Sir Charles Mark Palmer erected in 1903, by Albert Toft.

MATERIALS: Bronze figure on a Portland stone pedestal with low relief bronze panels.

EXTERIOR: The pedestal is rectangular with panels on each side. The north face bears the inscription:
'SIR/CHARLES MARK PALMER/BARONET/BORN AT SOUTH SHIELDS/NOVEMBER 3RD 1822/FOUNDER OF THE PALMER/WORKS & OF THE TOWN OF/JARROW OF WHICH HE WAS/FIRST MAYOR in 1875/ORIGINATOR OF THE FIRST/STEAM SCREW COLLIER/BUILT AT JARROW IN 1851/MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT/FOR NORTH DURHAM FROM/1874 AND SUBSEQUENTLY/FOR THE JARROW DIVISION/THIS STATUE ERECTED IN/1903 BY THE WORKMEN OF/PALMER'S COMPANY AND A FEW/ FRIENDS COMMEMORATES/A LIFE DEVOTED TO THE/SOCIAL ADVANCEMENT OF/THE WORKING CLASSES. THE/PROSPERITY OF JARROW/AND THE INDUSTRIAL/PROGRESS OF/TYNESIDE'
The east face carries a replacement relief of the SS John Bowes. The south face depicts a coal miner and the west face depicts a replacement relief of HMS Resolution. There is a freestanding Ionic column at each corner supporting the frieze and an overhanging cornice. The whole is placed on a square stepped base with blind inset panels on each face.

HISTORY: The statue was designed by the renowned sculptor Albert Arthur Toft who has an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and a number of listed buildings to his name. It commemorates Sir Charles Mark Palmer (1822-1907), Victorian coal owner, ironmaster and shipbuilder as well as benefactor to the town of Jarrow. Palmer first became responsible for the expansion of the Marley Hill Coal Company, which, by the mid 1850s owned fourteen collieries producing a million tons of coal annually. With his brother, he leased a shipyard near to the important Jarrow staithes in order to control the company's coal and coke shipments. In 1852 they launched the John Bowes, the first screw propelled water-ballasted collier, which first carried 650 tons of coal to London and back within five days. The shipyard soon produced many colliers, which enabled the coastal coal trade to compete with rail haulage and revolutionised the Tyne-London coal trade. He achieved success in war-ship building also and later built cargo vessels, oil tankers and passenger ships and later moved into shipping lines and became the first Chairman of the Tyne Shipping Company in 1864. Palmer further diversified into ironstone mines and established an iron, boiler and engine works at Jarrow giving him total industrial integration, manufacturing ships from their basic raw materials. By the 1880s, Palmer's Iron and Shipbuilding Company was the largest such concern in the country.

Palmer is also known as a great benefactor to the town of Jarrow and a responsible employer who supported the Mechanics' Institute, schools, churches and hospitals. Through his works' building society, nearly half of the town's houses became owner-occupied and he was the first Mayor as well as MP for Jarrow until his death in 1907.

SOURCES: Stafford M. Linsley, `Palmer, Sir Charles Mark, first baronet (1822-1907), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35369, accessed 8 Oct 2007]; Mark Stocker, `Toft, Albert Arthur (1862-1949), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38293, accessed 8 Oct 2007]

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
This statue is designated for the following principal reasons:

* It is a well-executed statue in bronze and Portland stone by the sculptor Albert Arthur Toft
* It commemorates the nationally renowned Victorian industrialist and local benefactor Sir Charles Mark Palmer
* It is an imposing monument to a local industrialist who had strong ties to the town of Jarrow, its people and its prosperity.

Listing NGR: NZ3274965309

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

303763

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.