Statue of Queen Victoria

Unveiling of the statue of Queen Victoria in the Jeevanjee Gardens by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, March 17, 1906.Unveiling of the statue of Queen Victoria in the Jeevanjee Gardens by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, March 17, 1906. [From Mike McFarnell, ed., “The Uneasy Years: 1918–1925,” Kenya 63, http://www.kenya63.org/uk/general/nairobi/the-uneasy-years-1918-1925]

1906

Sculptor: Unknown

Nairobi, Kenya

The Victoria Memorial in Nairobi was unveiled in 1906 by the Duke of Connaught, Victoria’s son and the first member of the royal family to visit Africa. The monument was paid for and presented by Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee, an Indian Muslim born in Karachi in 1856. Having established a shipping company in India, Jeevanjee received commissions from the Imperial British East Africa Protectorate to extend his business to Mombasa, the major Kenyan port. This made Jeevanjee ’s fortune, which he used to build much of Nairobi’s infrastructure and to undertake extensive philanthropic work. The monument’s representation of Victoria as Empress of India takes on a particular significance given Jeevanjee’s patronage and the role played by Indians in the city’s physical and social composition.

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Unveiling of the statue of Queen Victoria in the Jeevanjee Gardens by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, March 17, 1906. Unveiling of the statue of Queen Victoria in the Jeevanjee Gardens by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, March 17, 1906. [From Mike McFarnell, ed., “The Uneasy Years: 1918–1925,” Kenya 63, http://www.kenya63.org/uk/general/nairobi/the-uneasy-years-1918-1925]