Monument To Joseph Dawson In The Churchyard Of St Mary Bow

Monument to Joseph Dawson in the Churchyard of St Mary Bow

This commemorative monument to Joseph Dawson, who died in 1854, was erected following public subscription. The structure stands approximately three metres in height and is constructed of Portland stone set upon a brick and stone stepped plinth. It dominates the entrance to the churchyard and is executed in the neo-classical style.

The monument comprises a moulded base in three stages. The principal inscription faces north and includes a portrait in relief. The inscription reads: TO TRANSMIT / TO FUTURE INHABITANTS / OF THIS PARISH AND NEIGHBOURHOOD / THE MEMORY OF A MAN / WHOSE LIFE AMIDST THE DUTIES / OF AN ARDUOUS PROFESSION / WAS DEVOTED TO THE WELFARE IMPROVEMENT / AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION / OF THE HUMBLER CLASSES / OF HIS FELLOW CREATURES / THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED / BY PUBLIC SUBSRIPTION / JOSEPH DAWSON / BORN 14 MARCH 1791 / DIED 25 APRIL 1854. The other three sides remain blank.

The upper stage features a square cornice decorated with egg and dart and lambs tongue moulding, surmounted by pediments adorned with wreaths and garlands and acroteria at the corners. A draped classical urn crowns the centre of the top.

Joseph Dawson was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1791 and lived at 60 High Street, Bow with his wife Emma. According to the 1851 census, he was a schoolmaster. His epitaph records his commitment to improving welfare and providing religious education for the people of Bow. In the early nineteenth century, schooling was provided by voluntary organisations run by the church and charities. Greenwood's map of 1830 shows a school to the north of Bow Road and a workhouse immediately north of St Mary's Church, with which Dawson may have been affiliated. The parish of Bromley-by-Bow had originally been a pleasant village with picturesque seventeenth and eighteenth century houses with tiled roofs, but underwent industrialisation and urbanisation, and the growth of poverty may have motivated Dawson's philanthropic work. St Mary Church itself was created in 1825 when surrounding buildings were cleared. The monument stands near the statue of William Ewart Gladstone at the west end of the churchyard.