The photographs of the Wantage statue were taken by Tim Willasey-Wilsey. They may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL, or cite the Victorian Web in a print document. The photographs of the smaller version are © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust is reproduced here by kind permission, for educational purposes. Text by Jacqueline Banerjee. [Click on all the images to enlarge them.]
This Grade II listed statue of King Alfred, by Count Victor Gleichen (1863-1937) was unveiled in 1877. Over lifesize, carved from Sicilian marble, it shows this key figure in English history holding not only a great battle axe (its head now resting on the ground) as a symbol of his past success in having defeated the Danes, but a roll of parchment, in tribute to his promotion of education and his importance as a legislator. It stands on the north side of the market place of Wantage, Oxfordshire — widely accepted to have been King Alfred's birthplace.
King Alfred's helmet, cape and wonderfully detailed leg wraps all have that early medieval flavour which appealed so much to the Victorians, and which gave a deep historical foundation to their patriotism. Here was an authentic (indeed founding) Anglo-Saxon hero, around whom a cult had already developed: Alfred was a favourite subject of writers of all kinds, from children's tales to epics, and aroused "remarkable nineteenth-century enthusiasm" (Parker ix), not least in the monarch herself.
Less dynamic than Hamo Thornycroft's later bronze statue of Alfred at his capital, Winchester, Count Gleichen's one has an aura of its own: the sculptor presents his subject in a moment of reflection rather than at the height of his triumph. There is a neo-classical restraint about the way he stands looking into the far distance. Here, a timeless nobility of character vies for precedence with the glory of history-making conquest.
As explained on the plaque at the base, Gleichen's statue was presented to Wantage by Colonel Sir Robert Loyd-Lindsay V.C.M.P (later Lord Wantage), and unveiled by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 14 July 1877. In fact, the statue was based on the Colonel's own appearance, rather than, in the case of Thornycroft's bronze at the end of the period, on what could be gleaned from written sources (Parker 28).
Smaller Version in the Royal Collection
In view of Queen Victoria's admiration for Alfred (afer whom, of course, she named one of her sons), and the family connection with Count Gleichen, it is hardly surprising that a copy of the statue should have found its way into the royal collection. Described in the collection's catalogue note as "identical," this reduced version is also of marble, but much smaller: 113.0 x 43.5 x 37.5 cm. Its date is significant: it marked a thousand years after Alfred's celebrated victory over the Danes at the Battle of Edington in 878.
Related Material
- King Alfred the Great
- William Theed's early 1860s sculpture of the Queen and Prince Albert in Anglo-Saxon costume
- Hamo Thornycroft's 1901 statue of Alfred at his capital, Winchester
Bibliography
Horspool, David. King Alfred: Burnt Cakes and Other Legends. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2006.
"King Alfred." Historic England. Web. 10 November 2025.
"King Alfred (849 AD-899 AD)." Art UK. Web. 10 November 2025.
King Alfred: 1878. Royal Collection Trust. Web. 10 November 2025.
Parker, Janne. England's Darling: The Victorian Cult of Alfred the Great. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007.
Created 10 November 2025