Manual Ref* SUscFR001 Show 6 images 374
Title*

Prince Albert
County Suffolk   District Council Suffolk Coastal 
Civil Parish or equivalent Framlingham  Town/Village* Framlingham 
Road College Road 
Precise Location Forecourt in front of the school entrance 
OS Grid Ref TM282640  Postcode IP13 
Previous location(s)  
Setting Grounds of a public school  Access Private 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
Joseph Durham  Sculptor(s)   
Elkington & co  Foundry   

Commissioned by

 Sir Thomas Lucas Bart (School Governor) 

Design & Constrn period

 1864 

Date of installing

 1865 

Exact date of unveiling

  

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type:

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Statue  Bronze  H 2.2 m (approx) x W 87 cm x D 85 cm 
Plinth  Aberdeen Granite   

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Framlingham College 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail: The statue is now covered by green patina

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail: There is a black stain on the right forehead

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks J. Durham Sc. London 1864 / Elkington & Co. Founders 
Inscriptions This statue of / PRINCE ALBERT / in memory of whom this school was founded / was erected by SIR THOMAS LUCAS BART / one of the original governors and founders 

Description (physical)

 Memorial statue to Prince Albert, shown wearing the robes of the Great Master of the Order of the Bath, the only order of which Queen Victoria was not the head. The robes were suggested by Baron Carlo Marochetti, one of three sculptors consulted, before Durham's began work on first colossal statue of Prince Albert(see below). The statue is set in front of the entrance to the school, but is set so that Prince Albert turns to look towards the main entrance, to the south east. 

Description (iconographical)

 The school was first proposed in 1862 as a memorial to the Prince since ‘a School or College for the Scientific and Practical ‘instruction of the Middle Class at a moderate cost would well accord with the views of the illustrious Prince.’ Albert was commemorated at Framlingham, rather than Ipswich, because of an unfortunate incident after he had laid the foundation stone for Ipswich School’s new buildings on his visit to attend the annual meeting of the British Association in July 1851. Somewhere along the route by someone in the crowd shouted out in broad Suffolk: “Goo hoom, yer rotten ole Jarman.” Albert probably did not understand but courtiers reported this to the Queen on their return to Buckingham Palace and Victoria placed a ban on royal visits to the town, which lasted until 1926. The statue is a version of the Durham's Prince Albert of 1863 on the monument commemorating the 1851 exhibition, moved to its present position behind the Royal Albert Hall in 1899. This was the first posthumous statue of the Prince to be completed, to the approval of the Queen who called it ‘fine and successful’ when she saw it on 9th June. Durham had the added advantage of having been closely associated with the Prince during his lifetime, and was thus considered likely to produce a good likeness. Birmingham considered ordering a replica, considerably cheaper from an existing model – Elkington’s quoted £500 for an electrotype – but in the event the only one to be erected was at St. Peter Port, Guernsey. This must explain the choice of Durham for the Framlingham commission, where he substituted shoes for the floppy boots of the earlier statue, described by one of his friends ‘the tights and boots in the Robin Hood style . . . are the only objectionable part of the figure.’ The founders, Elkington & co, specialised in electro-plated bronze. Revised Rrichard Cocke 25/10/2013 

Photographs

 Date taken:  12/5/2007
Date logged:  14/5/2007

Photographed by:
David Hulks and Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  12/5/2007

Inspected by:
David Hulks and Julia Rosenbaum

Sources and References

 www.oldframlinghamian.com accessed 14-May-07 / www.framlingham.suffolk.sch.uk accessed 14-May-07 Darby, E, and Smith, N., The Cult of the PRINCE CONSORT, New Haven and London, 1983, 76-79 and 87; Illustrated London News, 18 May 1867; http://kindred-spirit.co.uk/blog/not-amused accessed 20/10/2013; Blatchly, J., A famous antient seed-plot of learning : a history of Ipswich School, Ipswich School, 2003 

Database

 Date entered:  14/5/2007

Data inputter:
David Hulks and Richard Cocke