engineering

Victoria Memorial, London

Victoria Memorial, London is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Victoria Memorial, London rather than just read about it. In short: The Victoria Memorial is a monument to Queen Victoria, located at the end of The Mall in London, by the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock. Designed in 1901, it was unveiled on 16 May 1911, though it was not completed until 1924.

Key takeaways

Victoria Memorial, London belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Victoria Memorial, London to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Victoria Memorial, London from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Victoria Memorial is a monument to Queen Victoria, located at the end of The Mall in London, by the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock. Designed in 1901, it was unveiled on 16 May 1911, though it was not completed until 1924. It was the centrepiece of an ambitious urban planning scheme, which included the creation of the Queen's Gardens to a design by Sir Aston Webb, and the refacing of Buckingham Palace (which stands behind the memorial) by the same architect. Like the earlier Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, commemorating Victoria's consort, the Victoria Memorial has an elaborate scheme of iconographic sculpture. The central pylon of the memorial is of Pentelic marble, and individual statues are in Lasa marble and gilt bronze. The memorial weighs 2,300 tonnes (about 2535 short tons) and is 32 m (104 ft) in diameter. In 1970 it was listed at Grade I.

History

Proposal and announcements King Edward VII suggested that a joint Parliamentary committee should be formed to develop plans for a Memorial to Queen Victoria following her death. The first meeting took place on 19 February 1901 at the Foreign Office, Whitehall. The first secretary of the committee was Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham. Initially these meetings were behind closed doors, and the proceedings were not revealed to the public. However the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Joseph Dimsdale, publicly announced that the committee had decided that the memorial should be "monumental".

Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, the secretary of the committee, submitted the proposal to the King on 4 March 1901. A number of sites were suggested, and the King visited both Westminster Abbey and the park near the Palace of Westminster. Several ideas were rumoured at this time, including an open square in The Mall near to the school Duke of York Column, and a memorial located in Green Park. On 26 March the decision was announced to locate the memorial outside Buckingham Palace and slightly shorten The Mall. It was estimated that the work would cost £250,000 and decided that there would be no grant given by the Government to the construction. Once the site was selected, a competition was conducted for the design. Five architects were chosen to develop designs. This phase lasted until the beginning of July 1901, when the committee selected its primary choice for the construction and took it to the King for approval. It was announced on 21 October 1902 that Thomas Brock had been chosen as the designer. The expectation was that the memorial would cost £200,000.

Funding and construction Funding for the memorial was gathered from around the British Empire as well as the public. The Australian House of Representatives granted a £25,000 contribution for the construction on 17 October 1905. The New Zealand Government submitted a cheque for £15,000 towards the fund. By October 1901 some £154,000 had been gathered for the construction of the memorial. During 1902 a number of tribes from the west coast of Africa sent goods to be sold, with the proceeds going towards the fund. Alfred Lewis Jones had arranged for these items to be brought from Africa to Liverpool free of charge on his ships. Following the public and national donations towards the funds, there was more money collected than was necessary for the construction of the Victoria Memorial. Funds were therefore diverted towards the construction of Admiralty Arch at the other end of The Mall, and a redevelopment to clear a path directly from that road into Trafalgar Square. Sir Aston Webb was put in charge of this project; he built the Arch so economically that enough money was left over to re-front the entirety of Buckingham Palace, a job that was completed in 13 weeks due to the pre-fabrication of the new stonework. The initial preparatory stage was to re-route the road and modify The Mall. Brock hoped that work on constructing the memorial itself could be started at some point in 1905. The lower half of the memorial was revealed to the public on 24 May 1909. Thousands of people visited it on the first day.

Dedication and inauguration

Following a practice ceremony on 11 March, in the presence of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, the late queen's last surviving son, the dedication ceremony took place on 16 May 1911, presided over by King George V. His first cousin, Wilhelm II of Germany, was also present. These two were the senior grandsons of Victoria, and arrived, together with their families, in royal procession. Also in attendance were a large number of Members of Parliament, and representatives of various armed forces. In his role as Home Secretary, Winston Churchill carried the text of the speeches. Lord Esher addressed the King and the gathered crowd, explaining the history of the memorial. The King replied to this, referring to his involvement in the development of the monument to his grandmother. He talked of the impact of Queen Victoria and of her popularity with the public. In total, the ceremony went on for thirty minutes. Following this, it was revealed to the press that the King had decided that the sculptor of the memorial, Thomas Brock, was to be knighted.

Later uses As part of the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, the Victoria Memorial (along with areas in Green Park and Buckingham Palace) was used as a platform for a fireworks display which lasted fourteen minutes with a total of two and three-quarter tonnes of fireworks used. In addition, water jets were added to the fountains in the Victoria Memorial, which fired water 40 feet (12 m) up into the air. This display followed a concert held in the Palace forecourt.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Victoria Memorial, London

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Victoria Memorial, London claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Victoria Memorial, London before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Victoria Memorial, London ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Victoria Memorial, London

In research: Victoria Memorial, London appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Victoria Memorial, London in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Victoria Memorial, London is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1911 establishments in the United Kingdom, 1911 sculptures, 1924 establishments in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Victoria Memorial, London outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Victoria Memorial, London in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Victoria Memorial, London means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Victoria Memorial, London out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Victoria Memorial, London in simple terms?

Why does Victoria Memorial, London matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Victoria Memorial, London?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Victoria Memorial, London.