EGN NEWS DESK
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they’re surrounded by an important “cloud of witnesses.” (NRSV) That “cloud” has continued to develop in measurement since then. In this month-to-month column we will probably be enthusiastic about a number of the folks and occasions, over the previous 2000 years, which have helped make up this “cloud.” People and occasions which have helped construct the neighborhood of the Christian church because it exists in the present day.
One of probably the most well-known of London’s many statues stands in Piccadilly Circus. Atop the monument a unadorned, winged, youth is dramatically poised – bow in hand – within the act of firing arrows down into the crowds and visitors of this busy spot in central London.
Ask Londoners, passing vacationers, and thousands and thousands of individuals worldwide who’s represented by the statue and nearly all will reply: “It’s Eros, historical Greek god of romantic love.” The statue is now internationally well-known and even seems on the masthead of the Evening Standard in print and on-line.
Erected in 1893, it turned such a widely known landmark that it was eliminated for security through the First World War (going again up in 1919); then eliminated once more through the building of Piccadilly Circus underground station within the Twenties; and eliminated for a 3rd time, to guard it through the Second World War.
Since then, it has been a everlasting characteristic, aside from a short time within the Eighties when it was eliminated for restoration. More not too long ago, the statue’s bow was changed in 2012, after being broken by a vacationer, and – when this too was broken – it was changed once more, in 2022, when the brand new bow was made out of aluminium. However, there’s extra to this statue than meets the attention or is represented in quite a few cartoons and representations.
The issues with “Eros”
Firstly, there’s the matter of the identification of the winged archer. It will not be “Eros.” It should be admitted that there’s a little bit of confusion about this, however what is evident is that no person on the time of its erection named it because the god of romantic love.
Then, through the First World War, it started to be more and more known as “Eros” and from that time onwards the “identification” was mounted. However, in 1921, a e book about its sculptor, Sir Alfred Gilbert, claimed he had described it as “reflective and mature love, versus Eros or Cupid, the frivolous tyrant.”
This has precipitated lots of people to imagine that, fairly than Eros, the statue represents Eros’ brother, Anteros, the traditional Greek god of reflective love. This could also be in step with an announcement made by Gilbert, in 1903, when he acknowledged that his intention was to symbolize “blindfolded Love sending forth indiscriminately, but with objective, his missile of kindness.”
But that would imply that the statue could merely symbolize a personification of affection showered down (represented by arrows) on folks. No Eros. No Anteros. Spoiler alert: the statue will not be blindfolded, so the outline is a bit complicated!
Secondly, the official identify of the monument will not be “Eros” and by no means has been. It is definitely known as the “Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain,” or the “Shaftesbury Monument.” The latter identify is now extra acceptable since there isn’t a longer any flowing water on the website. This is unquestionably not how it’s titled on tea-towels, T-shirts, cartoons, or Valentine’s Day playing cards.
In that very same 1903 assertion about “blindfolded Love,” Gilbert had earlier defined that he had “been actuated in its design by a need to represent the work of Lord Shaftesbury.” During the memorial’s unveiling in 1893, The Times newspaper described the fountain there as “‘illustrative of Christian charity”, the concept being of affection and kindness freely bestowed on all. This was many years earlier than anybody described it as “Eros.” That is why the statue is typically described because the “Angel of Christian Charity,” though you will not discover that on many tea-towels or T-shirts. Perhaps one ought to!
Far from being a monument of romantic or sexual love, the statue that now dominates Piccadilly Circus was erected in 1893 as a memorial to the Christian philanthropist Lord Shaftesbury.
How a mis-named “statue of Romantic Love” is definitely a reminder of a unprecedented Christian reformer
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, seventh Earl of Shaftesbury (1801–1885) was probably the most efficient social and industrial reformers of the nineteenth century. He turned Lord Ashley when his father succeeded to the household earldom in 1811 and entered Parliament in 1826 as MP for Woodstock.
This was one of many so-called “pocket boroughs” which, earlier than the 1832 Reform Act, was “within the pocket” of a rich landowner who might present it to whomever they happy. In this case the “pocket” belonged to his uncle, the Duke of Marlborough. On the demise of his father, in 1851, he entered the House of Lords as Earl of Shaftesbury.
Like all folks, he was complicated, and his actions typically mirrored his class and time. In 1832, he attacked the Reform Bill which was extending the best to vote past a tiny share of the voters; he was accused of focusing extra on the situations confronted by industrial employees than on the situations skilled by the agricultural labourers on the Shaftesbury estates; and he shared with many others of his contemporaries deep suspicions relating to Catholic religion.
However, whereas this reminds us that each one human “heroes” are imperfect, there’s merely no denying the huge optimistic influence he had on his society and this was firmly rooted in his evangelical Christian religion.
He favoured the political emancipation of Roman Catholics and supported the repeal of the Corn Laws (import duties on grain), in 1846. These had been actions which broke out of the slender outlook of a lot of his elite contemporaries. It revealed a willingness to have interaction with contested and complicated points in a approach which promoted social justice.
Shaftesbury turned a “lunacy commissioner” in 1828, at a time when the mentally sick had been each brutally marginalised and people in establishments had been typically handled as a “peep present” to entertain others. He drove ahead the passage of the Lunacy Act of 1845, which was the primary British authorized statute to deal with the severely mentally sick as “individuals of unsound thoughts,” fairly than as outcasts.
He was a long-time supporter of manufacturing facility reform. In the increasing manufacturing facility system of the commercial revolution, hours, situations, and pay had been shockingly poor for huge numbers of employees. After 1833, Shaftesbury turned chief of the manufacturing facility reform motion in parliament. The regulation for shortening the working day in textile mills – the Ten Hours Act of 1847 – is popularly often called Lord Ashley’s Act.
The Mines Act of 1842, which he promoted, banned all ladies and women, and all boys below the age of 10, from underground work in coal mines. Prior to this act, youngsters as younger as 4 or 5 could possibly be present in mines. Acting as “trappers,” opening and shutting doorways, they might sit for hours in whole darkness. As one confided to a reforming commissioner, “typically I’m terrified of the darkish.”
Pregnant ladies labored far into their pregnancies. One defined that “the belt and chain [belt round the waist, chain between the legs, to haul a heavy container of coal] is worse after we are within the household approach.” And ladies and women typically skilled appalling sexual abuse underground. The Mines Act aimed to place a cease to all this.
He fought in opposition to the observe of chimney sweeps sending youngsters up chimneys. Children who spent their life in soot typically suffered from pores and skin cancers and had been typically trapped and died within the slender confines of a home chimney.
As a member of the General Board of Health (1848–54) he argued for state sponsorship of low-cost housing for industrial cities. Urban centres, which had massively expanded through the industrial revolution, had been infamous for the poor high quality, unhealthy, and overcrowded housing that had sprung as much as accommodate industrial employees and their households.
For thirty-nine years he was president of the so-called Ragged Schools Union. This made it doable for 300,000 destitute youngsters to obtain some free schooling.
He served as president of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which made vernacular translations of the Scriptures accessible to peoples of all ethnic teams, at a value they may afford. It helped put the Bible into the palms of huge numbers of people that, in any other case, wouldn’t have been in a position to afford them.
He supported the muse of enormous numbers of Young Men’s Christian Associations and Working Men’s Institutes. These supplied secure areas for rest and schooling.
In addition, he financially supported numerous Nonconformist missionary societies, in addition to these belonging to the Church of England, which confirmed a generosity of spirit which seemed past denominational boundaries.
The influence of Lord Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury was one thing of an obsessive. Florence Nightingale (fairly an obsessive herself) apparently wryly noticed that, had he not been so dedicated to reform of the lunatic asylum system, he would have been in a single himself. But his achievements had been huge. And maybe it took a particular sort of obsessiveness to drive ahead so many reforms, on so many fronts.
What is simple is that his influence was enormous and lasting. When he died, huge numbers of bizarre folks took to the streets of London to pay their respects as his coffin went previous. That is a unprecedented testimony to the person and his work.
Shaftesbury would have defined that his reforming work was the logical end result of his deep Christian religion. His life and his achievements present a unprecedented testimony to the truth of that religion and the way it impressed him to motion on behalf of others. That is a permanent legacy. Next time you see that statue in Piccadilly Circus, consider the truth behind it of a lifetime of Christian service, fairly than the favored legend that has obscured its which means.
Martyn Whittock is a historian and a Licensed Lay Minister within the Church of England. The creator, or co-author, of fifty-six books, his work covers a variety of historic and theological themes. In addition, as a commentator and columnist, he has written for a number of print and on-line information platforms and been interviewed on TV and radio information and dialogue programmes exploring the interplay of religion and politics. His current books embrace: Daughters of Eve (2021), Jesus the Unauthorized Biography (2021), The End Times, Again? (2021), The Story of the Cross (2021), and Apocalyptic Politics (2022). His newest e book, American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America (2023), examines proof for Norse exploration (together with by the primary Christians to achieve that continent) of North America and its influence on tradition and politics there.
