Sepia albumen print

Acc.no: PEZPH : 2016.50.1157

Identification

Item: Lander's Monument, Truro.

Description: A photograph of the Lander Memorial column and statue in Lemon Street, Truro, built to commemorate the discoveries of the Lander brothers, Richard and John, but primarily Richard whose figure appears at the top of the column. Richard Lander was born in Truro in 1804, the son of the innkeeper at the Fighting Cocks. He began his foreign travels at the age of 13 when he went to the West Indies with a merchant. On his return, he took employment in London with wealthy families who travelled in Europe. He then accompanied a Scottish explorer, Hugh Clapperton to West Africa and returned as the only European survivor of the expedition. He returned to West Africa with his brother in 1830, under commission from the British Government and discovered the source of the Niger despite being kidnapped and held to ransom by some locals. Richard returned once more in 1832, with the intention of establishing a trade settlement at the Niger/Benue confluence, but was attacked and wounded by a musket ball in his thigh and died after gangrene set into the wound. Buried in Fernando Po, he was just 29 and left a widow and young daughter. The memorial began as just the column in 1835 on a site given by Sir Charles Lemon, not long after the events commemorated. The column was designed by Philip Sambell, who had overcome the difficulty of being born deaf to become a distinguished architect. Later in 1852, the figure of Richard was added, created by the sculptor Neville Northey Burnard, a son of Altarnun. Two interesting points of note from the Royal Cornwall Gazette of March 1852: (i) the figure of Lander is not looking into the far distance as might be expected of such sculptures, but rather is looking downwards at the spectator. He holds a palm branch as a symbol of his peaceful intentions; and (ii) in order to get a likeness for the face, Burnard borrowed a portrait from the RGS and visited Lander's widow, where he met his daughter, who looked so much like her father that she became the model for the face. Sources: Historic England; Wikipedia; Royal Cornwall Gazette (online).

Condition: Good

Description

Material: Photographic paper

Production

Method: Printed

Category: Photography

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