Edward VII Statue

King Edward VII lurks slightly inconspicuously in front of Baskerville House in Centenary Square. Obviously there is no connection between King Edward VII and John Baskerville, but then, hey, he’s a King, he can probably hang around wherever the heck he wants.
Which, as it happens, has been in various places across Birmingham. He started off in Victoria Square, then was moved to Highgate Park, and eventually ended up in Centenary Square. A rather nomadic statue, nay less. Unfortunately, his lance also errantly went walkies in the 1970s, presumably due to local thieves. Although why anyone would want a 7 foot marble lance is anyone’s guess…
So, lanceless and a little nomadic, he still looks the part — regal and strong in Carrera marble. His plinth (still the original) is very tall, which means that you either miss him altogether, or feel a bit like a grovelly peasant, regarded from a great height as you pass by.

Tucked away in a corner of Centenary Square, you could easily pass by this statue as you choose instead to gawp at the genuinely impressive and refurbished Baskerville House. Its lack of prominence is understandable though.
Birmingham’s heyday went hand in hand with Victoria’s reign, and even before that. In this sense the difficulty of this statue can be read as the difficulty of Birmingham leaving its mark on the world since 1901. This way the statue becomes incredibly relevant asking questions of Edwardian Birmingham that we could arguably ask ourselves today. The ambivalent location of the statue also connects to the relevance of its subject in further ways. The plinth is carved with the words ‘Peace’ and ‘Education and Progress’, testimony to the hopes and dreams of the age that were all too brief before the world became smaller, cynical and war weary.