Calder Fountain, Custom House Square, Belfast, Co Antrim

The Calder Fountain is a free-standing sandstone monument erected in 1859 at Custom House Square in Belfast, designed by George Smith, Chief Engineer to the Belfast Harbour Commissioners. Built through public subscription, it commemorates Commander Francis Anderson Calder, a Royal Navy officer and pioneering advocate for animal welfare who founded the Belfast Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1836.

The fountain is lozenge-shaped in plan and constructed of coursed sandstone ashlar. It stands on a splayed granite ashlar base with projections at the four corners, each protected by granite wheel-guards. These corner projections are supported by scrolled sandstone ashlar brackets, panelled piers, and fluted block capitals that rise to a continuous cornice with corresponding projections framing all four elevations. The structure is surmounted by an original cast-iron post supporting a replacement metal lantern.

The south elevation contains a granite trough set within a shallow sandstone arch, over which sits an inscribed sandstone panel. The inscription reads: "Erected by public subscription / In commemoration of / Francis Anderson Calder, Commander R.N. / Founder of the Belfast Society for the Prevention of Cruelty / to Animals. And for twenty years its active Honorary Secretary. / A.D. 'Blessed are the Merciful' 1859". Above this runs a continuous sandstone cornice surmounted by a low blocking course with a rectangular panel inscribed "Calder Fountains".

The bowed west elevation displays coursed sandstone ashlar walling with an ogee-moulded granite font and scalloped back panel. The north elevation mirrors the south elevation but carries a different inscription: "Erected by public subscription / As a Memorial of the labours of / Francis Anderson Calder, Commander R.N. / in the cause of humanity / And to whom is mainly to be attributed the erection, between the / years 1843 and 1855 of ten water troughs for the use of cattle in / Belfast. / A.D. 'A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast' 1859". The bowed east elevation corresponds to the west elevation in design.

The fountain was originally erected in Queen's Square, to the south side of Custom House Square, in 1859. It was moved in 1870 to facilitate expanding transport routes, then relocated to Albert Square, north of Custom House Square, in recent decades to accommodate further changes in traffic. The fountain was restored by the Laganside Corporation in 2003 and subsequently returned to its original setting at Custom House Square. It is now surrounded by Liscannor flag-stone paving.

Commander Calder was born in Edinburgh in 1787 and joined the Royal Navy in 1803, serving until the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Upon relocating to Belfast, he became deeply concerned by the mistreatment of animals, which had intensified during the Industrial Revolution as dependence on horses and cattle for labour increased. Cock-fighting and bear-baiting were also prevalent. Calder and other concerned citizens responded by founding the Belfast Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1836, which later became the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Between 1843 and 1855, Calder was chiefly responsible for providing ten animal water troughs across Belfast. A further eleven troughs, serving both animals and people, were erected in the following eight years, and the Society's efforts earned recognition throughout Britain. Calder died in 1855, and this memorial fountain was erected in his honour. The design by George Smith provided, in the words of contemporary sources, "a drinking fountain for the use of bipeds and a trough for the use of quadrupeds." Smith also designed the Harbour Commissioner's Office in Corporation Square and the lighthouse at Holywood Bank.