ings Committee, September 12, 1870 and remained in the Birmingham Exchange until the year 1874, when it was removed to the position in which it at present stands, in the corner of the principal room of the Post Office, Paradise Street.
Hill, M.D.—A very fine bust of Matthew Davenport Hill, the first Recorder for the borough, is placed in the Art Gallery at the Reference Library.
James.—A bust of the Rev. Angell James may be seen at Aston Hall.
King Edward VI.—When the old Grammar School was taken down the statue cf the King, which had stood in is niche in the front of the old building for generations, was broken to pieces on account of so many gentlemen (including governors) wanting it; as all could not have it, it was destroyed!
Mason.—The erection of a statue in his honour as proposed in 1870 not meeting with the approval of Sir Josiah Mason (then Mr.), the Town Council paid Mr. E. G. Papworth, the chosen sculptor, a solatium or honorarium of 150 guineas. The worthy knight; not being now alive to veto the project, a figure of him has been placed opposite the College in Edmund Street.
Murdock.—There is a bust of William Murdoch, the introducer of coal-gas as an illuminant, in Handsworth Church. Another would not be out of place in the new Gas Office.
Nelson.—The bronze statue of Lord Nelson in the Bull Ring was executed by Westmacott, and uncovered June 6, 1809. The artist received £2,500, but the total cost (raised by subscription) with the pedestal, lamps, and palisading, was nearly £3,000. The corner posts are old cannon from the Admiral's ship the Victory.
Peel.— The statue of Sir Robert Peel, near the Town Hall, cost £2,000, and was unveiled August 27, 1855. He faced towards Christ Church at first, and was protected from Tories and Protectionists by iron railings, until March, 1873, when his bonds were loosed, and he was allowed to look down New Street.
Priestley.—The statue of the discoverer of oxygen, near the Town Hall, was uncovered August 1, 1884. The amount subscribed as a Priestley memorial fund was £1,820, of which £972 went for the philosopher's stone effigy, about £10 for a tablet on the site of his house at Fair Hill, and £653 to the Midland Institute to found a scholarship in chemistry.
Prince Albert and the Queen.—In 1862, after the death of the Prince Consort, a Memorial Committee was formed and a fund raised for a statue, the execution of which was entrusted to Mr. Foley, and it is said to be one of his finest productions. It was placed in the old Art Gallery, and uncovered August 27, 1838. It was in the reading-room at the time of the fire, but fortunately escaped injury. The balance of the fund was deemed sufficient for a companion statue of Her Majesty, and Mr. Foley received the commission for it in 1871. At his death the order was given to Mr. Woolner, who handed over his work to the town in May, 1884, the ceremony of unveiling taking place on the 9th of that month. According to the Athenaum it is "one of the finest portrait statues of the English School, combining a severe yet elegant design with execution of the highest kind, every element being thoroughly artistic." Thousands have seen it alongside the Prince's statue in the hall of the Reference Library, but few indeed have been heard to say they like it. Both statues are ultimately intended to be placed in the Council House.
Rogers.—A memorial bust of John Rogers, a native of Deritend, and one of the first martyrs of the Reformation, was unveiled in St. John's, October 29, 1883.
Scholefield.—A bust of William
