John Passmore Edwards

These chaps stand astride the gable of the Passmore Library and Technical School building in the centre of Truro. I wonder how many people get to see them or know they are there. "Look UP!" They appear to represent the maritime traditions however closer scrutiny shows one to be holding a miners pick and the other a rope. So perhaps it's fishing and mining. The Latin motto beneath them reads "Exai tatum Cornu In Deo." I think that translates as Arising from study the horn of God. (?)



The philanthropist John Passmore Edwards seems to have been quite a strong willed and idealistic man. He had virtues, something many of our present crop of politicos and dead heads need in heaps.

He was a delegate to peace congresses in Brussels, Paris, and Frankfurt (from 1848 to 1850). He stood as an Independent candidate for Truro in the General Election of 1868. He didn't win this seat but in 1880 he gained the parliamentary seat of Salisbury. However, he soon became a bit sceptical about the quality of professional politics and the inability of politicians to effectively represent the interests of their constituents. He twice refused knighthood, and his opposition to the Boer War made him somewhat unpopular.

Please do look large and see the quality of stonework which has lasted since the late 1800s.

John Passmore Edwards, a gentleman.