Statue of Richard Grosvenor, Second Marquess of Westminster

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The Statue of Richard Grosvenor, Second Marquess of Westminster, stands in Grosvenor Park, Chester, England. It was designed by Thomas Thornycroft and was erected to honor the Marquess’s generosity. Unveiled in 1869, the statue was paid for by public subscriptions and is now a Grade II listed building.

Richard Grosvenor (1795–1869) was a politician, landowner, and philanthropist from the Grosvenor family, whose main country seat was Eaton Hall near Chester. One of his biggest gifts to Chester was land near the city center donated to create a public park for recreation, and he funded the park’s design by Edward Kemp. The park opened in October 1867. The idea for a memorial to the Marquess began in 1865, proposed by the Mayor of Chester as a lasting tribute.

After the park gift, the city council decided to place a statue in the park and commissioned Thornycroft. The statue was originally planned in bronze but was made in marble instead, in what was said to be the largest single-block marble sculpture in Britain at the time. It cost £3,500, with public subscriptions totaling £4,179; the extra money bought a portrait of the Marquess for the town hall.

The statue shows a marble figure of the Marquess, about 3.6 metres tall, standing on a Derbyshire granite pedestal. He is depicted in the robes of the Order of the Garter, bare-headed, with one leg slightly forward. It stands at the crossing of the park’s main axes, and the pedestal bears an inscription.

It was designated a Grade II listed building on 10 January 1972. Grade II is the lowest of the three listing grades and covers buildings of national importance and special interest. By 2012, the statue was described as quite weathered.