Stafford Henry Northcote Statue

Stafford Henry Northcote, the Earl of Iddesleigh 1818-1887 was a prominent conservative in mid 19th century Exeter. His family can be traced back to 12th century Devon. Northcote was educated at Eton and Oxford where he distinguished himself. He was recruited by Prime Minister William Gladstone as his Private Secretary before he was called to the bar in 1847.

Northcote was appointed as one of the commissioners for the Great Exhibition in 1851, charged with organising the event for Prince Albert.

Later he was Financial Secretary to the Treasury, President of the Board of Trade and Secretary of State for India. He also represented Dudley and Stamford and later Devon in Parliament. In 1874 he became Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1885, he was elevated to the House of Lords. He proposed founding the Royal Albert Museum as a memorial to Prince Albert. An appeal was launched in 1861 and it was running by 1868.

On 19th October 1887, the Mayor, Alderman Burch, led a procession from the Guildhall, accompanied by the city Mace Bearers and dignitaries to Northernhay Park. The statue by Joseph E Boem was unveiled by Lord Clinton, the Lord Lieutenant of Devon, Iddesleigh's successor to the post. The statue depicts the Earl in the act of addressing the House of Lords.

A second statue of Lord Iddesleigh, sculpted by Boem, was unveiled in the lobby of the House of Commons in November 1888.

The statue stands on a red granite pedestal with the inscription "Stafford Northcote Earl of Iddesleigh GCB 1818-1887" and in Latin "When shall modesty and an uncorrupted fidelity, the sister of justice and naked trustfulness, to thee find any equal"

Source: The Times and Flying Post