1854: 17 & 18 Victoria c.33: An Act to place Public Statues within the Metropolitan Police District under the Control of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Works and Public Buildings.
[10th July 1854.]
WHEREAS it is expedient that such Public Statues as are herein-after mentioned should be under the Control and Superintendence of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Works and Public Buildings, and that such Commissioners should have the Powers after mentioned: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
[Interpretation of Terms.]
I. In the Construction of this Act the Words “Metropolitan Police District” shall be understood to describe the District defined under that Name by an Act of Parliament passed in the Tenth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, Chapter Forty-four; the Words “Public Statue” shall be taken to include all the Statues mentioned in the Schedule to this Act, or which may hereafter be erected, either wholly or in part, within any such public Place as after mentioned; the Words “public Place” shall be taken to include any Street, Square, Court, or other like Place within the Metropolitan Police District into or upon or over which there is any Public Right of Ingress, Egress, and Regress, or Thoroughfare.
[Commissioners of Works may erect Statutes in any public Place, and enclose &c. the same;]
II. It shall be lawful for the said Commissioners, or their Workmen or Agents by their Order, by and out of any Monies appropriated or to be appropriated for that Purpose by Parliament, to erect in any public Place any Statue, and to enclose the same and the Pedestal thereof and any surrounding Space with any Fence or Railing, in all respects as they may think fit.
[and may also repair Public Statutes, &c.]
III. It shall be lawful for the said Commissioners to restore, amend, or repair any Public Statue, and the Pedestal thereof, and the Fence or Railing surrounding the same, by and with any Monies for that Purpose from Time to Time appropriated by Parliament
[Commissioners of Works may do all Acts necesaary for the Erection or Reparation of Public Statues.]
IV. It shall be lawful for the said Commissioners, or their Agents or Workmen by their Orders, to do all Acts necessary for the erecting, repairing, restoring, or amending any Public Statue, and also to enter any public Place for the Purpose of erecting any Public Statue, or for restoring, amending, and repairing any Public Statue, and the Railings and other Fences surrounding the same, as the said Commissioners shall think fit, and generally to make, do, execute, and perform all such Acts, Works, Matters, and Things as shall be thought necessary by the said Commissioners or their Agents, for the Erection, Restoration, or Repair of any Public Statue. No Public
[No Public Statue to be erected without Assent of the Commissioners.]
V. No Public Statue shall after the passing of this Act be erected in any public Place without the written Assent of the said Commissioners.
[For the Punishment of Person damaging any Public Statue.]
VI. Any Person or Persons who shall after the passing of this Act unlawfully and maliciously destroy or damage any Public Statue, or the Ornaments, Railings, or Fences surrounding the same, shall be guilty of a Misdemeanor within the Meaning of an Act passed in the Session of Parliament held in the Eighth and Ninth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Forty-four, and the Provisions of the said Act shall be held to be applicable to the Punishment of any such Offender.
[Certain Statutes may be transferred to Board of Works, and become Public Statutes.]
VII. It shall be lawful for the Owners of any Statue not mentioned in the Schedule to this Act, but which is or may be situated within the Metropolitan Police District, with the Assent in Writing of the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, to transfer such Statue to the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Works and Public Buildings; and upon the Completion of such Transfer, the Statue so transferred shall be deemed to be a Public Statue within the Intent and Meaning of this Act as fully and effectually as if such Statue had been expressly mentioned in the Schedule hereto.
The SCHEDULE referred to by the above Act.
City of Westminster, Saint Margaret and Saint John.
Statue of King James the Second in Whitehall Gardens, at the Rear of Whitehall Chapel.
Statue to the Right Honourable George Canning, erected in Parliament Square, facing New Palace Yard.
Saint Martin in the Fields and Saint Anne Soho.
Equestrian Statue of King Charles the First at Charing Cross.
Equestrian Statue of King George the Third in Pall Mall East.
Equestrian Statue of King George the Fourth in Trafalgar Square.
Column and Statue to Viscount Nelson, Trafalgar Square.
Equestrian Statue to the Duke of Wellington on the Arch at Hyde Park Corner.
Saint George Hanover Square.
Statue in Hyde Park in Commemoration of the Victories of the Duke of Wellington.
Saint James’.
Statue of King George the Second in Golden Square.
Tower Division.
Statue of the Duke of Wellington on “Tower Green.”
Holborn Division. Saffron Hill Liberty. Saint Clements Danes.
Statue of George the Third, in the Quadrangle of Somerset House.
Saint Andrew’s Holborn.
Statue of Queen Anne, situate in Queen Square, Saint George the Martyr.
Saint Marylebone.
Statue of the Duke of Kent, Park Crescent Gardens, Portland Place.
County of Kent, Greenwich.
Statue to His Majesty King George the Second in the Square of the Royal Hospital.
Chelsea.
Statue of King Charles the Second in the Grounds of Chelsea Hospital.
Short title: The Public Statues (Metropolis) Act, 1854. (Short Titles Act 1896.)