Statue Of Joseph Pease

Statue of Joseph Pease

This statue, erected in 1875, stands at the east end of Prospect Place at its junction with Prebend Row, High Row and Northgate in Darlington. It was sculpted by George Anderson Lawson and cast by Cox and Sons as an electroform casting—zinc dipped in copper—standing approximately nine feet tall, one and a half times life-size. Pease is depicted in middle age wearing a Quaker lapel-less coat, his left hand at his side and his right tucked into his waistcoat, a pose he frequently adopted when speaking publicly.

The pedestal comprises two parts: a grey granite plinth supporting a decorative base of polished pink Shap granite with colonnettes at the corners. Four bronze relief panels are set into the sides of the pedestal, each representing an aspect of Pease's public life. The south face (front) shows Pease conversing with Lords John Russell and Palmerston on his entry to Parliament. The west panel depicts slaves celebrating their emancipation with Pease. The north face represents industry, showing a locomotive engine with the chimneys and docks of Middlesbrough in the background. The east panel shows a schoolmistress instructing a group of standing children. The plinth is inscribed with 'Joseph Pease' in large Roman letters, and the base bears the names of the sculptor and founders, together with the date.

Joseph Pease (1799–1872) was born in Darlington, the second son of Edward Pease, whose contribution to the development of the Stockton and Darlington Railway earned him the title 'father of the railways'. The Peases were Quakers, committed to business and religious interests. Joseph prepared the Railway's prospectus at age nineteen and became its first treasurer. He worked to exploit the mineral wealth of north-east England, helping establish Teeside as a centre for iron production. He extended railway lines, persuaded mine owners to use them for transporting products, and became the county's largest coal-owner by his retirement in 1870, when rail had become the principal method of coal transportation.

In 1832 Pease was elected Member of Parliament for South Durham, holding the seat until 1841. He was Britain's first Quaker MP. In 1833 he refused to take the Church of England oath and a parliamentary committee allowed him to affirm instead. He did not remove his hat on entering the House and retained his Quaker dress. He reportedly refused to canvas for votes or spend money on his election. Supporting Whig governments, Pease frequently spoke on matters of social and political reform, using his parliamentary position to speak for the abolition of slavery in concert with his relation-by-marriage Thomas Fowell Buxton. The Pease family was devoted to abolition: Pease's uncle Joseph had written tracts for the Anti-Slavery Society, and his uncle's daughter Elizabeth Pease Nichol played an important role in the movement. Outside Parliament, Pease devoted himself to philanthropic and educational work, building and financing numerous schools in his industrial communities, and to the Society of Friends, of which he was a minister. From 1860 until his death he was president of the Peace Society.

A Pease Memorial Committee of 43 local businessmen formed soon after his death to commission a painting for the town hall and a statue. G. A. Lawson, originally from Edinburgh but based in London from around 1862, is thought to have used a photograph of Pease aged 63 as his model. The statue was unveiled on 28 September 1875, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The day was declared a public holiday throughout the district; 100,000 people are said to have filled the streets, with 80,000 arriving from out of town in special trains. All the mayors of the United Kingdom were present; the Duke of Cleveland performed the unveiling, despite his family's historical efforts to thwart the development of the Peases' railways.

The statue was placed at a prominent junction in the centre of Darlington; standing at Prospect Place, Pease looks down High Row towards the Gothic clock tower by Alfred Waterhouse, which was his gift to the town in 1864. Behind the statue stands a listed early twentieth-century bank building, its restrained classical facade in pale limestone providing an excellent backdrop. The statue was originally surrounded by railings with four gas lamps, later removed. In 1958 the statue was moved several metres due to a road redevelopment scheme. In 2006–7 it was cleaned and returned to its original position, with the surrounding area redesigned. The restored statue was unveiled on 24 October 2007, the 200th anniversary of the date on which the Act abolishing the slave trade received royal assent.