The Grenville Column/The Grenville Monument
Category
Architecture / Features & Decoration
Date
c. 1748
Materials
stone
Collection
Stowe, Buckinghamshire
NT 91969
Summary
The Grenville Column/The Grenville Monument. A rostral Doric column erected in honour of Captain Thomas Grenville (1719-1747). He was a British naval officer who served during the War of the Austrian Succession and, whilst in command of HMS Defiance, was fatally wounded during the First Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1741. The column is capped by an eighteenth-century lead statue of Heroic Poetry.
Full description
Commissioned by Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham (1675 – 1749) in c. 1748 to commemorate his nephew, Captain Thomas Grenville, RN who was buried in the Church at Wotton, the Grenville family seat. This monument is the first to represent the future union of the two families in 1749. Originally, the Grenville Column was installed at the edge of the Elysian Valley, near to the Temple of Concord and Victory, and supported ‘a figure of Neptune with a ‘splinter of the ship in his hands’. The monument takes the form of a columna rostrata or a rostral column which, in Roman architecture were used to celebrate naval victories. It is decorated with sculpted anchors to the front and rear and each side has three ships prows projecting from the shaft. The column takes reference from antique sources and may have been designed by Captain Grenville’s brother, Richard, the future Earl Temple. In 1756, Richard Grenville, second Earl Temple (1711–1779) relocated the column to the Elysian Fields, thus, placing the memorial to his brother into the realm of the Ancient and British Worthies. A statue of Calliope, the Muse of Heroic Poetry (NT 91819) holding a scroll with the words ‘Non nisi grandia canto’; or 'Of none but heroic deeds I sing’ replaced the statue of Neptune. The following inscription, written by his cousin, George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton 1709-1773) was added to the column and this further references the heroic nature of Captain Thomas Grenville who lost his life serving his country whilst in the protection of Britain and British Liberty. Sororis suae filio, THOMAE GRENVILLAE, Qui navis praefectus regiae, Ducente classem Britannicam Georgio Anson, Dum contra Gallos fortissime pugnaret, Dilacerate navis ingenti fragmine, Femore graviter percusso, Perire, dixit moribundus, omnino satius esse, Quam inertiae reum in judicio sisti; Columnam hanc rostratam Laudans & maerans posuit Cobham. Insigne virtutis, ehu! Rarissimae Exemplum habes; Ex quo discas Quid virum praefectura militari ornatum Deceat M.DCC.XLVII Or; As a Monument to Testify his Applause and Grief Richard Lord Viscount Cobham Erected this naval Pillar to the Memory of his Nephew Captain Grenville; Who, commanding a Ship of War in the British Fleet Under Admiral Anson, In an Engagement with the French, was mortally wounded in the Thigh by a Fragment of his shattered Ship. Dying, he cried out, ‘How much more desirable it is thus to meet Death, than suspected of Cowardice to fear Justice!’ May this noble instance of Virtue prove instructive to an abandoned Age, and teach Britons how to act In their Country’s Cause!
Provenance
Produced for Viscount Cobham (1675-1749) and installed in the Grecian Valley. Relocated to the Elysian Fields by second Earl Temple (1711-1779) Listed for sale but not sold in: ‘The Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham […]’, 1921, the Eighteenth Day’s Sale, lot 3784, p. 226: ‘The Grenville monument, a rostral column, erected by the late Richard, Lord Cobham, in honour of Captain Grenville […]'. Also unsold in ‘The Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham […]’, 1922, the Second Day’s Sale, lot 83, page 13: ‘The Grenville Monument. A carved stone column ornamented with anchors and ships’ prows […] One of the garden monuments transferred to the National Trust along with the gardens in 1989 by Stowe School.