Who?

How often have we walked past statues in the middle of a town or city, quite oblivious to who the person was who has been so exalted as to be put up on high, more or less for ever.

Well, here's a statue in the middle of Carlisle. As you can see, its position right outside a particular store means it is passed by thousands of people every day. Do any of them know who he is? I doubt it very much. It is a very white statue, made of marble and stands on a granite plinth. All it says is that his name was James Steel and he was Mayor of Carlisle in 1845 and 1846. That doesn't explain why he, above all the other Mayors, should have had a statue erected.

I looked him up and really was only a little wiser. He was not only Mayor, he was editor of the Carlisle Journal and here may lie a clue. The statue was unveiled in 1859, eight years after his death, and although his own paper was very happy with it, a rival newspaper thought it 'a foolish act encumbering the newly-acquired open space'. Which does make one wonder whether the whole thing was a publicity stunt, or am I being too cynical! Perhaps all is revealed in a book that was published last year: James Steel, Champion of the People.

The statue was originally placed right in the middle of the market square, so it probably was an encumbrance. Anyway, in 1989 it was moved further along to its present position, in the process of which the left hand was broken off. Presumably it was stuck back on again!

In 2007 the statue was brightened up by being covered with a red knitted dress (from the said store perhaps?). In the interests of art apparently. It then got called the tea cosy.