Given my recent reading it was interesting to stumble across this the other day.
The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial and drinking fountain commemorating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, and in particular, the role of British parliamentarians in the campaign. It was commissioned by Charles Buxton MP, and dedicated to his father Thomas Fowell Buxton along with Wilberforce, Clarkson, Babington Macaulay, Henry Brougham and Stephen Lushington, all of whom were involved. It was designed by Buxton, an amateur architect, in collaboration with neo-Gothic architect Samuel Sanders Teulon (1812–1873) in 1865. It coincided with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which effectively ended slavery in the USA. The memorial was completed February 1866. It was originally constructed in Parliament Square, erected at a cost of £1,200. As part of the postwar redesign of the square it was removed in 1949 and not reinstated in its present position in Victoria Tower Gardens until 1957.
There were eight decorative figures of British rulers on it, but four were stolen in 1960 and four in 1971. They were replaced by fibreglass figures in 1980. By 2005 these were missing, and the fountain was no longer working. Between autumn 2006 and February 2007 restoration works were carried out. The restored fountain was unveiled on 27 March 2007 as part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 to abolish the slave trade. A memorial plaque commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Anti-Slavery Society was added in 1989.
