Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Central London, England, United Kingdom, built to commemorate British Royal Navy officer Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during which he was killed by a French sniper. The monument was constructed between 1840 and 1843 to a design by William Railton at a cost of £47,000 (equivalent to £5,163,046 in 2025). It is a column of the Corinthian order built from Dartmoor granite. The statue of Nelson at the top was carved from Craigleith sandstone by sculptor Edward Hodges Baily. The four bronze lions around its base, designed by Sir Edwin Landseer, were added in 1867. The pedestal is decorated with four bronze relief panels, each 18 feet (5.5 m) square, cast from captured French guns. They depict the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen and the death of Nelson at Trafalgar. The sculptors were Musgrave Watson, William F. Woodington, John Ternouth and John Edward Carew, respectively. The ornate capital upon which Nelson stands is by Charles Harriott Smith. It was refurbished in 2006 at a cost of £420,000 (equivalent to £725,835 in 2025), at which time it was surveyed and found to be 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m) shorter than previously supposed. The whole monument is 169 feet 3 inches (51.59 m) tall from the bottom of the pedestal to the top of Nelson's hat. The statue of Nelson is 17 feet (5.2 m). Nelson was 5 feet 6 inches; a ratio of almost exactly 3:1.
Construction and history
In February 1838, a group of 121 peers, Members of Parliament (MPs) and other gentry formed a committee to raise a monument to Lord Nelson, funded by public subscription, and the government agreed to provide a site in Trafalgar Square, in front of the newly completed National Gallery. A competition was held for designs with an estimated budget of between £20,000 and £30,000. The deadline for submissions was 31 January 1839. The winning entry, chosen by the sub-committee headed by the Duke of Wellington was a design by William Railton for a Corinthian column, surmounted by a statue of Nelson, and flanked by four sculpted lions. Flights of steps would lead up between the lions to the pedestal of the column. Several other entrants also submitted schemes for columns. The second prize was won by Edward Hodges Baily who suggested an obelisk surrounded by sculptures. Criticism of the organisation of the competition caused it to be re-run. Railton submitted a slightly revised design, and was once again declared the winner, with the stipulation that the statue of Nelson should be made by Baily. The original plan was for a column 203 feet (62 m) high, including the base and statue, but this was reduced to 170 feet (52 m) with a shaft of 98 feet (30 m) due to concerns over stability. The base was to have been of granite and the shaft of Craigleith sandstone, but before construction began it was decided that the shaft should also be of granite. Excavations for the brick foundations had begun by July 1840. On 30 September 1840, the first stone of the column was laid by Charles Davison Scott, honorary secretary of the committee (and son of Nelson's secretary, John Scott), at a ceremony conducted, according to the Nautical Magazine, "in a private manner, owing to the noblemen and gentlemen comprising the committee being absent from town". Construction of the monument, by the contractors Grissell and Peto, progressed slowly, and the stonework, ready for the installation of the statue, was not completed until November 1843. In 1844, the Nelson Memorial Committee ran out of money, having only raised £20,485 in public subscriptions, and the government, in the form of the Office of Woods and Forests took over the project. Installation of the bronze reliefs on the pedestal did not begin until late 1849, when John Edward Carew's depiction of the death of Nelson was put in place on the side facing Whitehall. This was followed early the next year by William F. Woodington's relief of the Battle of the Nile on the opposite side. Carew's relief was cast by Adams, Christie and Co. of Rotherhithe. The other three were cast by Moore, Fressange and Moore. The last to be made, The Battle of Cape St. Vincent became the subject of legal action, when it was discovered that the bronze had been adulterated with iron. The partners in the company were jailed for fraud and the relief was completed by Robinson and Cottam. It was finally put in place in May 1854.
The 17 feet (5.2 m) statue at the top was sculpted by Edward Hodges Baily R.A. from three pieces of Craigleith type sandstone donated by Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch, former chairman of the Nelson Memorial Committee, from his own quarry at Granton, Edinburgh. The statue stands on a fluted column built from solid blocks of granite from the Foggintor quarries on Dartmoor. The Corinthian capital is made of bronze elements, cast from cannon salvaged from the wreck of HMS Royal George at the Woolwich Arsenal foundry. It is based on the Temple of Mars Ultor in Rome, and was modelled by C. H. Smith. The bronze pieces, some weighing as much as 900 pounds (410 kg) are fixed to the column by the means of three large belts of metal lying in grooves in the stone. The column also had a symbolic importance to German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. If Hitler's plan to invade Great Britain, Operation Sea Lion, had been successful, he planned to move it to Berlin, the capital of Germany.
Lions The four identical bronze Barbary lions at the column's base were not added until 1867. At one stage they were intended to be of granite, and the sculptor John Graham Lough was chosen to carve them. However, in 1846, after consultations with Railton, he turned down the commission, unwilling to work under the restrictions imposed by the architect.
Thomas Milnes received the commission in 1858, and produced four full-scale models in sandstone, each individualised to represent Peace, War, Vigilance and Determination. These were rejected, and the commission was transferred, again, to Sir Edwin Landseer. Subsequently mill owner Sir Titus Salt bought the statues instead for a civic building at the centre of his workers village, installed on pedestals in 1869. The four sandstone Lions now have Grade II* listed building status.
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