3-085-995 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Statue of Lord Roberts unveiled at Calcutta by the Viceroy, Lord Elgin, 1898. 'The equestrian statue of Lord Roberts lately erected at Calcutta was unveiled in the presence of a very large gathering...[It] occupies a commanding site in the centre of the Red Road...The troops present were the Calcutta Light Horse and Gloucester Regiment, the Naval Volunteers, 5th B.I., Royal Artillery, 4th B.I., and Cossipore Artillery Volunteers, the North Calcutta Volunteers, West Kent Regiment, and the 7th Bengal Cavalry. The massed bands formed up the centre, the guard of honour being furnished by the Gloucester Regiment. Sir Patrick Playfair, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Lord Roberts Memorial Fund, invited the Viceroy to unveil the statue. His Excellency...addressed the assembly, after which he unveiled the statue to the accompaniment of a salute from Fort William. The cost of the statue and pedestal, amounting to £3500, has been entirely defrayed by the subscriptions of Lord Roberts's friends and admirers. At either end of the pedestal are allegorical figures symbolising Courage and Fortitude. The friezes encircling the pedestal represent the march from Kabul to Kandahar. Both statue and pedestal were designed by Mr. Harry Bates, A.R.A.' From "Illustrated London News", 1898.