3-046-996 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Statue of Sir Humphry Davy, at Penzance, [Cornwall], 1872. 'A monument of this esteemed natural philosopher [was] erected in Penzance, his native town...It consists of a statue in stone, by Messrs. W. and T. Wills...The statue, which is above the size of life, standing 8 ft. 8in. high from the pedestal is designed after Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait...the head is slightly thrown back as if inspired with the courage and enthusiasm for science which distinguished this eminent man; and the righthand rests on a safety-lamp, the product and symbol of the beneficent genius of the chemist...The site of the monument is in front of the Post Office and Market House...It was in a house near this spot that Sir Humphry Davy was born, in 1778. He died in 1829; and more than thirty years passed before the proposal to erect this local monument was made. It originated with some working men of Penzance, in a conversation among them when they attended a funeral in the town cemetery in 1861. They formed a committee, of which Mr. W. B. Matthews was president, and Mr. John May and Mr. R. Carter were secretaries; by slow degrees they raised a fund of £650, and this statue is the product of their subscription'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.