The George Baxter Memorial

The George Baxter Memorial is a churchyard monument dating from around 1867, located on South Road in Forest Hill. It commemorates George Baxter (1804-1867), a printer known for inventing the first method of producing colour prints in quantity. The memorial features a polished granite tapering obelisk that stands about 15 feet high, resting on a deep tapering plinth. There is an inscription on two granite steps, with the western side displaying an attached stone wreath. The memorial is set on a stone step with a square stone pavement, which is enclosed by cast iron railings that have partly twisted horizontal rails and moulded mid and corner posts topped with acorn finials. The inscription on the eastern side reads, "In fond remembrance of / my dear husband / George Baxter who was gifted as an artist / with the highest qualities of artistic taste / and was the sole inventor and patentee / of Oil Color Picture Printing." This is followed by a religious poem and a reference to Luke XI v 13. Additional inscriptions on other faces of the plinth honor his wife Mary (d. 1871), his daughter Charlotte Warner Baxter (d. 1907), and his son William Oliver (d. 1875).