Summary
Group of five memorials. Late C19. Dedicated to members of the Sanger family, circus proprietors.
Reasons for Designation
The group of five memorials to the Sanger family in St John’s Cemetery, Margate is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Sculptural quality: as high-quality examples of High Victorian funerary sculpture;
* Historical interest: the Sanger family is of national historical interest as the foremost showmen and circus owners of the Victorian period, credited with elevating the British circus into a massed spectacle. Of particular note are the dedications to ‘Lord’ George Sanger and his wife, the lion-tamer, Ellen Chapman.
* Group Value: with the fine adjacent listed memorial to John Sanger in the form of a grieving circus horse.
History
St John's Cemetery, Margate, was opened on the outskirts of the town in 1856. The cemetery is a typical example of a picturesque Victorian funereal landscape, which provides the setting for many grand funerary monuments, used increasingly in the C19 as a means of asserting family affection and showing respect for the dead.
Details
The monuments comprise a group of four female marble statues on grey granite plinths arranged at the four corners of a plot defined by a low granite curb. The plinths are by J & H Patteson of Manchester but the sculptor of the statues is unknown. The individual monuments are as follows: 1) at the north corner is a female figure in classical drapery gazing skyward with her right hand on her breast and the left holding the chain of an anchor. The inscribed dedications include ‘Lord’ George Sanger ‘The famous circus proprietor’ and his daughter, Sarah Harriett Sanger (d.1929), wife of Arthur Reeve; 2) at the east corner is a female figure sowing flowers from a fold in her cloak. The dedications include Ellen Sanger (née Chapman) and Arthur Reeve (d.1933); 3) at the west corner is a female figure in classical drapery looking skyward and holding a document in her left hand. The dedications include Laurina Coleman (1853-1882), daughter of 'Lord' George Sanger; 4) at the south corner is a female figure in classical drapery with her right hand clasping a crucifix to her breast. The dedications include Harriet Chapman (1802/3-1888), mother of Ellen Sanger.
Sources
Books and journals Websites http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35940?docPos=3
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
End of official list entry
