HISTORY
It was over a decade after Nelson’s victory and death at Trafalgar that Parliament started to discuss, in 1818, the possibility of erecting a memorial to the memory of Nelson. However it was not until 20 years later, that in 1838 voluntary subscriptions were sought by a Nelson Memorial Committee. It was decided that a competition should be held for an appropriate design and a site for the memorial in Trafalgar Square was approved by the Government.

The competition had several entries with designs ranging from short square columns to extensive assemblies of platforms with plinths bearing statues and trophies. These designs followed on from earlier proposals during the 1830s for a Naval Monument, all covering far more of the Square than is presently occupied by the present Column [Thomas Bellamy 1798 – 1876 & John Goldicutt 1793 –1842] However, the competition was won by William Railton [1803 – 1877] and a modified design was approved by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests and by the Lords of the Treasury. The Earl of Lincoln had the steps up to the platform removed in favour of the wall that is seen today.

The Contract for the erection of the works was undertaken by Peto and Grissell, who, in 1839 started the excavations to a depth of 12ft below the pavement and filled the hole with concrete to a depth of 8ft. A brick core was then built and masonry applied. The granite coming from Froggin Tor in Devonshire. Old guns from the Woolwich Arsenal provided the metal for the acanthus capital. The statue by Edward Hodges Baily [1788 – 1867] was sculptured out of Craigleith sandstone from the Duke of Buccleugh’s Granton quarry and weighed 18 tons.

The completed basic memorial in 1843 was not without its critics as, in 1844, a letter from an F W Trench suggested that the Column could be improved by taking out the base block and having the Column start straight off the platform. He considered that the Column overwhelmed St Martin’s Church.

Guns captured from the battles of St Vincent, Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar provided the metal for the four bronze bas-reliefs on the base block. Sir Robert Peel approved the commissions for the designs from the artists, J Ternouth, J E Carew, M L Watson and W F Woodington. The latter artist completed the work of M L Watson who died in 1847, leaving a small model of his St Vincent panel from which to work.

The original design contained four corner Lions. In July 1858 the Commission of Works and Public Buildings commissioned Sir Edwin Landseer [1802 – 1873] to produce the designs for the Lions and was voted six thousand pounds for his work. The bronze castings were undertaken by Baron Marochetti. However it appears that work had to be undertaken to improve and finish the castings from the content of letters from the Battersea Foundry of Robinson and Cottam and also from the Manor Ironworks in Chelsea of Messrs Holbrook & Co. The finished Lions were placed in position in January 1867. The overall cost of the Memorial was forty seven thousand, five hundred pounds.