Statue of Queen Victoria

Commissioned in 1897, this Diamond Jubilee statue for Dundee was part of a larger commemorative effort that also included plans for a hospice. Although the commission for the statue was made too late to be ready for the Jubilee, the sculptor, Harry Bates, sent a full-size plaster cast in time for the celebrations. The statue was completed two years later. When the Duke of Connaught, Victoria’s son, travelled to Dundee to inaugurate the statue and open the hospice on August 26, 1899, the press noted that “both objects are associated with the desire of the citizens to celebrate in a fitting manner the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty’s reign.”