2-888-734 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Inauguration of the Statues of Nelson and Wellington, on Southsea Common, [Hampshire], 1850. Ceremony near Portsmouth: 'Lieutenant Governor, Lord Frederick Fitzclarence, before giving up command of the Garrison, said he would like to present two statues as a token of regard and good feeling to the town and its inhabitants; the statues were of the England's national heroes, one of Lord Nelson and the other of the Duke of Wellington to be mounted on Southsea Common near where Lord Nelson embarked to win and die at the Battle of Trafalgar and the Duke of Wellington sailed from Portsmouth to conduct the War in the Spanish Peninsula. The statues were unveiled on the 18th June amidst a concourse of 50,000 spectators'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.