3-008-976 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Inauguration of the memorial statue to Mr. Herbert Ingram, M.P., in the Market-Place, Boston, [in Lincolnshire], 1862. View of the '...ceremony of uncovering the Ingram Memorial Statue, from photographs by Mr. E. Hackford...The statue stands...within the shadow of the fine old church...Boston kept high holiday...most of the shops were closed, whilst the windows of the houses were thronged by eager spectators. The...committee and invited guests met the local authorities at the Assembly Rooms, and walked thence, in procession to the site of the statue. In the Marketplace had been erected a platform, on which the Mayor and Corporation and the principal members of the procession were accommodated, the ground in front being kept by the volunteers. The Market-place and every window commanding a view of the ceremony were crowded with spectators. Mr. Parry, of Sleaford, on behalf of the committee, handed over the statue to the town authorities, and at the close of his eloquent address the Mayor replied in a few well-chosen words...The ligature confining the covering of the statue was then loosened; and at the signal given (the discharge of a gun), the veil fell, disclosing Mr Munro's noble work of art, amid the cheers of the vast assemblage'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.