The New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, Saturday, April 5, 1862
The late Prince Consort
The late Prince Consort.
The journals of the past month have recorded an almost countless number of meetings held in all parts of the country for the purpose of voting addresses of condolence to the Queen on her recent bereavement. We believe there is hardly a public society, institution, or profession in the kingdom which has not already forwarded such an address to the Home Secretary for presentation. Nor have these addresses emanated from bodies in this country only. British residents in various towns on the continent have given similar testimonies of their esteem for the character and their admiration of the conduct of the late prince. Amongst our latest items of news from America is one recording the holding of a crowded meeting of the British inhabitants of New York, at which an address of sympathy to her Majesty was unanimously carried.
The next subject which has engaged the attention of all classes of the community has been the erection of an appropriate monument, or rather of appropriate monuments, to the memory of the prince. It is now settled that a national monument shall be subscribed to by the country generally; and that, in addition, local monuments shall be raised in the principal provincial towns and in such places as possess any special association with the late prince’ life.
The central committee for the national monument was appointed at a meeting convened by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion-house on Jan. 14. The Lord Mayor presided, and among those who took part were the Bishop of London, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Baron de Rothschild, and Mr S. Morley. The practical resolution adopted by the meeting declared that the memorial should be of a monumental and national character, and that its design and mode of execution should be approved by the Queen. Committees throughout the kingdom were ordered to be formed, and the Bishop of London, in his able speech, expressed a hope that the fund would comprise the pennies of the poor no less than the larger contributions of the wealthy.
The total amount received for the memorial fund was, on January 25, about £15,000.
Subscriptions for local monuments have been opened in Manchester, Birmingham, Salford, and other places.