| Winston Churchill | |
|---|---|
 The statue in 2025 | |
 | |
| Artist | Ivor Roberts-Jones |
| Year | 1973; 53 years ago (1973) |
| Type | Bronzesculpture |
| Subject | Winston Churchill |
| Location | London,SW1 United Kingdom |
Thestatue of Winston Churchill inParliament Square,London, is abronzesculpture of the formerBritish prime ministerWinston Churchill, created byIvor Roberts-Jones.
It is located on a spot referred to in the 1950s by Churchill as "where my statue will go". It was unveiled in 1973 by his widowClementine, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, at a ceremony attended by the serving prime minister and four former prime ministers, whileQueen Elizabeth II gave a speech.
The statue is one oftwelve statues on or around Parliament Square, most of well-known statesmen.
The statue is 12 feet (3.7 m) high and is made ofbronze. It was sculpted byIvor Roberts-Jones and is located on the main green ofParliament Square, opposite thePalace of Westminster.[1] The artistKyffin Williams, a friend of Roberts-Jones, is said to have acted as the model for Churchill.[2]
The statue showsWinston Churchill standing with his hand resting on his walking stick and wearing a militarygreatcoat. His pose is based on a well-known photograph of Churchill inspecting theChamber of the House of Commons after it had been destroyed by bombing on the night of 10–11 May 1941.[3][4] The plinth is 8 feet (2.4 m) high with "Churchill" inscribed on it in large capital letters.[5] A proposal to insert pins standing out of the statue's head was turned down in the 1970s – the pins were intended to stop wild birds from sitting on its head.[5]
The Churchill Statue Committee had concerns during the statue's development process that it looked "a little too much" like theItalian Fascist leaderBenito Mussolini. Whilst the head was still only cast in plaster, a report on it stated that, "At the moment the head is undoubtedly like Churchill, but perhaps not quite right of him at the pinnacle of his career. The cheeks, the eyes, the forehead and the top of the head require improvement. I told Mr. Roberts-Jones that above the eyes I thought I was looking at Mussolini."[6] Roberts-Jones agreed to modify the sculpture to reduce the dome of the head in order to lower the forehead.[6] Joe Whitlock Blundell and Roger Hudson, in their study of London statuary,The Immortals, contrast unfavourably Roberts-Jones' treatment of the greatcoat with that achieved byCharles Sargeant Jagger in his representations of infantrymen on theGreat Western Railway andRoyal Artillery Memorials, and suggest that Churchill's hunched shoulders convey "too much of the tortoise".[7]
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In the 1950s,David Eccles, thenMinister of Works, showed Churchill plans for the redevelopment ofParliament Square. Churchill drew a circle in the north-east corner and declared: "That is where my statue will go."[5] The statue that was eventually installed was first suggested byJohn Tilney, Member of Parliament forLiverpool Wavertree, in aparliamentary question in 1968.[5] Initial estimates by the sponsors of the Winston Churchill Statue Appeal put the cost of the statue at £30,000. The sponsors of the appeal includedEdward Heath,Lord Mountbatten,Lord Portal, andBaroness Elliot.[8] The sum of £32,000 was raised by 4,500 individuals who are listed in a book which was deposited in the library atChartwell on Churchill's birthday, 30 November 1973.[5] The statue was cast by the Meridian Foundry ofPeckham Rye, London.[9]
The statue was unveiled on 1 November 1973 byClementine, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, Winston Churchill's widow.Queen Elizabeth II had declined to unveil the statue herself, indicating that she thought it right that Lady Spencer-Churchill should do so, although the Queen did attend the ceremony, and gave a speech in which she mentioned that Churchill had turned down adukedom because he wanted to spend his remaining years in the House of Commons.[5]Union Flags covered the statue, which were removed as a cord was pulled.[5] Others present at the unveiling includedThe Queen Mother, members of the Churchill family across four generations,Edward Heath (then prime minister) and four former prime ministers. TheBand of the Royal Marines played several of Churchill's favourite pieces of music.[5]
In 2008, the statue wasgrade II listed.[10]
An animation of the statue is included in the film shortHappy and Glorious, made for and shown at theopening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.[11]
The statue has been defaced on a number of occasions duringprotests held in Parliament Square. In 2000, at theMay Day protest the statue was sprayed with red paint to give the appearance of blood dripping from its mouth[12] and a strip of turf was placed on top of the head, giving the appearance of amohican orpunk rocker hairstyle.[13][14] In June 2020, during theGeorge Floyd protests, protesters sprayed graffiti on it over two successive days, including, following the inscription "Churchill", the words "was a racist".[15][16][17] As a result the statue was temporarily covered up to preserve it from further vandalism.[18] A number of statues around the country, including that of Churchill, became part of a debate about whether they should remain on public display or not, and, if so, under what conditions.[19] In October 2020, Benjamin Clark was fined £200 and ordered to pay £1,200 compensation for the vandalism.[20]
A replica of the Parliament Square statue was unveiled in 1999 in Winston Churchill Square inPrague, Czech Republic, outside theUniversity of Economics in theŽižkov area.[21][22][23] It was moulded from the original on site, then cast in bronze. A fibreglass replica stands on theAustralian National University campus inCanberra, Australia: it was brought to Australia in 1975, placed in the courtyard garden of Churchill House in 1985, and moved to its present location inActon sometime after 1992.[24]
There are also variant statues of Churchill by Ivor Roberts-Jones onSolli plass in the "English Quarter" ofOslo, Norway; and in British Place,New Orleans, USA.[21][25] Like the Parliament Square statue, the Prague, Oslo and New Orleans statues were all cast in London by the Meridian Foundry.
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51°30′03″N0°07′35″W / 51.50085°N 0.12646°W /51.50085; -0.12646
