A modest man, a florid memorial: Marylebone’s tribute to William Pitt Byrne
A baroque drinking fountain with an equally florid inscription can be found in Marylebone as a tribute to a conservative newspaper proprietor.
The drinking fountain was installed in 1862 by the writer Julia Clara Busk in memory of her husband, William Pitt Byrne, who had inherited ownership of The Morning Post newspaper from his father, and ran it as a fairly conservative leaning publication.
After his death, the paper went through several owners, quite a few scandals, although it was also the first to warn about the threat of German expansion under Hitler, and was eventually bought by The Telegraph. The two papers, initially intended to be sold as separate publications, eventually merged into The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post before reverting to just The Daily Telegraph.
But back in the 1830s, William Pitt Byrne (named after William Pitt the Younger) ran the newspaper and broadened its remit from the narrow political focus into a more general-purpose newspaper of the sort we recognise today. However, he ended his connection with the paper sometime around his marriage in 1842 to follow literary pursuits, contributing to leading journals. Reading his obituary published in September 1863, it seems that he was a classic gentleman scholar of the time, someone rich enough to pursue his hobbies but who also took them seriously.
When it was installed, The Builder magazine, which was frightfully priggish in those days, somewhat lamented the need to report on a structure so out of keeping with architectural principles that it should be included in their august publication.
However, as they complained, they are “a newspaper and must catch the image of the works that rise in streets and squares of the actual London, as well as help onward the march of taste.”
Arguably, as a drinking fountain — disused at the time of writing — it’s certainly of a certain taste and style, with the seashell design mounted upon artificially rusticated rocks.
Around the side is an inscribed message: “Offered to the public 1862”
To ensure that the grateful public knows who to thank for their drinking water, a large plaque is on the front of the fountain.
ERECTED BY THE FRIENDS
OF
WILLIAM PITT BYRNE, ESQ. M. A.
AFTER A DESIGN BY HIS WIDOW
IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE
OF THE RARE COMBINATION OF ESTIMABLE QUALITIES
WHICH IN LIFE HIS MODESTY CONCEALED.
TO
HIS STRICT INTEGRITY, POLITICAL CONSISTENCY, NOBLE
DISINTERESTEDNESS,
AND UNIFORM DETERMINATION
TO VINDICATE THE CAUSE OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM,
MAY BE ASCRIBED HIS SUCCESS
AS
PROPRIETOR OF THE MORNING POST,
IN MAINTAINING THE ELEVATED TONE
IT HAD ATTAINED UNDER HIS FATHER.
HIS ACQUIREMENTS IN CLASSICAL AND GENERAL LITERATURE,
HIS LOVE OF SCIENCE AND ART, HIS PROFICIENCY IN MUSIC
AND THE COUNTENANCE BY WHICH HE PROMOTED THEIR
CULTIVATION,
WERE NOT LESS ATTRACTIVE THAN
HIS SINGLENESS OF HEART, FORGIVING TEMPER,
GENEROUS APPRECIATION OF OTHERS,
UNOBTRUSIVE PIETY, AND PRACTICAL CHARITY,
RENDERING THIS REFRESHING FOUNTAIN
A SUITABLE MEMORIAL
OF HIS WORTH.
From what I have read about him, though, I have a feeling that had he been as modest and pious a person as the memorial claims, he would have been utterly appalled at the pompous message applied to the drinking fountain.
SUPPORT THIS WEBSITE
This website has been running now for over a decade, and while advertising revenue contributes to funding the website, it doesn't cover the costs. That is why I have set up a facility with DonorBox where you can contribute to the costs of the website and time invested in writing and research for the news articles.
It's very similar to the way The Guardian and many smaller websites are now seeking to generate an income in the face of rising costs and declining advertising.
Whether it's a one-off donation or a regular giver, every additional support goes a long way to covering the running costs of this website, and keeping you regularly topped up doses of Londony news and facts.
If you like what you read on here, then please support the website here.
Thank you