Item LSBU/8/9 - Marble bust of Joseph Lancaster

1 sculpture

In 1905 J. Passmore Edwards ordered the sculptor Fehr to produce two busts of Joseph Lancaster and Michael Faraday to be presented by him to the Borough Polytechnic Institute. The 1904-5 Report of the Borough Polytechnic Institute's Governing Body (LSBU/6/8/13), writes, "Marble busts of Joseph Lancaster and Michael Faraday, executed by Mr Henry C. Fehr, and presented by Mr J. Passmore Edwards, have been placed on marble brackets in the Entrance Hall [of the Borough Road building]." The two busts remained on display from 1905 until 1930 (see LSBU/7/1/68) when the entrance hall and building were remodelled but replaced in 1934.

The Borough Polytechnic Institute's House Committee minutes from 22 February 1934 (LSBU/1/8/3) state that, "... the marble busts of Faraday and Lancaster might now be placed in a prominent position in the Polytechnic. The Committee inspected various positions in and about the Main Hall and chose the following:- The busts of Faraday and Lancaster to be placed on the wall of the first floor corridor overlooking the Main Hall and a small brass plate suitably inscribed to be fixed to the base of the Faraday bust." On 26 April 1934 the committee stated that, "...the busts of Lancaster and Faraday and the two plaques had been placed in position."

Over time the bust of Joseph Lancaster was housed in the Polytechnic's Students' Union building on Rotary Street, New Kent Road, Diary House in 1995 and eventually in the now closed Tower Restaurant run by the National Bakery School until 2010. The Michael Faraday bust was lost during the 1970s.

Large marble bust on a plinth with a small attached brass plaque enscribed, 'Joseph Lancaster 1778-1838 Presented by J. Passmore Edwards Esq.'

• English