Monument to Sir Arthur B. Forwood, MP
Sir George Frampton, R.A., P.R.B.S. (1860-1928)
1903; unveiled 1904
Bronze on a sandstone pedestal
Liverpool
Sir Arthur Bower Forwood (1836-1898) was a Liverpool merchant, ship-owner and Conservative politician who rose to become not only Mayor of his hometown but also, eventually, First Secretary to the Admiralty and a Privy Councillor and was raised to the baronetcy in 1895. His fame must have spread far and wide, because a short notice of his death appeared in the New York Times (see below).
Of similar dimensions to Frampton's monument to Canon Lester in the same gardens, this statue is of special interest because here Frampton for the first time shows his subject in "contemporary dress without concealing it beneath an 'academic gown or other masking device'" (Cavanagh 176). A powerful and confident-looking figure, Forwood is shown in the pose he usually adopted when making a speech. The contrast with Canon Lester, in stance and mood as well as in garb, is striking, and reveals Frampton's versatility.
Photograph, caption and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2009.