Bust of Sir Henry Tate, outside Tate Library, Brixton Oval

Summary

The bronze bust of Sir Henry Tate by Sir Thomas Brock, dated 1905, and commissioned by Jane Tate, standing to the west of Brixton Tate Library.

Reasons for Designation

The bronze bust of Sir Henry Tate by Sir Thomas Brock, dated 1905, and commissioned by Jane Tate, standing to the west of Brixton Tate Library, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historical interest: as well as introducing the sugar cube to Britain, Tate was a considerable philanthropist who founded the Tate Gallery, and gave three public libraries to his adoptive borough of Lambeth;
* Historical interest: the bust has stood at Brixton Oval, outside the library funded by Tate, since 1905;
* Artistic interest: the bronze bust is a fine example of the work of the prominent portrait sculptor Sir Thomas Brock;
* Group value: with a number of listed buildings surrounding Brixton Oval, including Brixton Tate Library, Lambeth Town Hall and the Ritzy Cinema, all listed at Grade II, and the Church of St Matthew and mausoleum of Richard Budd, both listed at Grade II*.

History

Sir Henry Tate (1819-1899) was born at Chorley in Lancashire, the son of a Unitarian minister and schoolmaster. Apprenticed to his older brother, who was a grocer in Liverpool, Tate presently bought his own business, which expanded to several shops as well as wholesale trade. From 1859 Tate went into the sugar refining business, making a huge success by introducing new technologies to his refineries, first in Liverpool, and from 1878, in Silvertown, East London. From 1894, the refinery used a process of making sugar cubes, first patented in Cologne, to which Tate had bought exclusive British rights. Tate retired in 1864.

As a philanthropist, Tate was responsible for a large number of benefactions of an educational and artistic nature, as well providing for the Tate Institute in Silvertown, a non-sectarian and apolitical meeting place for working people. Tate, who lived at Park Hill, Streatham Common, from 1880, built an attached gallery, housing his art collection, which was opened to the public on Sundays, before the establishment of his Tate Gallery (originally the National Gallery of British Art) in 1897. Tate funded a number of libraries in Lambeth: Tate South Lambeth (1888), and Streatham (1891), and Brixton (1892). Tate was knighted in 1898.

Following Sir Henry Tate’s death in 1899, his wife, Jane Tate, daughter of Charles Hislop of Brixton Hill, bought the space to the west of Brixton Library, now Brixton Oval, which she landscaped as Tate Gardens and gave to the people of Lambeth in 1905 as a memorial. The bust, commissioned from Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Brock, was erected by public subscription in that year; and placed at the centre of the gardens. The gardens have since been replaced by hard landscaping; the bust, with its pedestal, was moved to its present position some time before 1980.

Other versions of Brock’s sculpture are in the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain, exhibited 1898, presented by subscribers) and in Streatham Tate Library.

Details

Memorial sculpture, by Thomas Brock, 1905.

MATERIAL: bronze bust and socle, on a limestone pedestal.

DESCRIPTION: over life-size portrait bust of Sir Henry Tate in contemporary dress, looking to left. The front of the bronze socle bears a cartouche with the subject's initials, H and T, overlaid. To the rear of the socle are laurel branches.

The tall pedestal has shell carving to the base, and frames, cartouches and acanthus to the top. To the west (front) face, is inscribed: ‘SIR HENRY TATE / BARONET / VPRIGHT MERCHANT / WISE PHILANTHROPIST / BORN 11 MARCH 1819 / DIED 8 DEC 1899. On the rear (east) face is inscribed: ‘ERECTED BY / PVBLIC SVBSCRIPTION / 1905’.

Sources

Websites
Historic photographs of Brixton Oval, accessed 7 March 2016 from http://landmark.lambeth.gov.uk/
Public Monuments and Sculpture Association National Recording Project, accessed 7 March 2016 from http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/986/

Other
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Sir Henry Tate

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