“Wellington Monument,” Mumbai

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Wellington Fountain

1865

Stone

The Esplanade, Mumbai, India

This ornamental fountain has an octagonal basin about thirty-seven feet in diameter, on a slightly flared circular column surrounded by six steps. Wellington's great battles are inscribed on alternate columns, with Wellington himself and other bas-relief figures between them (see Bromley 415).

[Commentary below. Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Caption and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. Photographs and commentary by Ramachandra Venkatesh. Readers may wish to see the original version on his own "Heritage Traveller" website, and explore that website further.

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The Wellington Fountain while "seen" by many every day is not "noticed" for its existence. It is a small but elegant monument that dates to the 1860s. The place is now called Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Chowk, and serves as a circular parking lot between the Regal Cinema and Chatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya (the former Prince of Wales Museum).

It was built by public subscription around 1865, at the height of the Victorian presence in "Bombay," when the Empire took upon itself to create a new city, with new civic infrastructure and governance in line with the trade and mercantile interests of the Empire and the large businesses run by local Indians as a by-product of the globalisation of economy that some parts of the country were now getting exposed to. The 1860s saw the removal of the redundant Fort of the East India Company, and the Fountain is to be seen in that context. It is a central point between the road that leads to the Apollo Bunder (Gateway of India area), the road that leads to the Dockyard and RBI (Reserve Bank of India), and on one side the D.N. Road that leads to the grand collossal Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (the former Victoria Terminus).

Close-up of one side of the column. The Duke of Wellington can be seen on the left here.

Wellington visited Mumbai twice in the first decade of the nineteenth century. The bas-reliefs on the fountain commemorate his victories which were so instrumental in survival of the British and their Empire. In India, his greatest contributions were successes in the Mysore war and the Maratha war, thus he laid the foundation of the Company control in west and south India. While xenophobic nationalists may not like the thought, the reality is that he was a far greater general and military strategist than his peers and adversaries, showing great tact and administrative skill even while fighting across unknown terrain and countries, with a diverse set of troops under his command.

Related material

Bibliography

Bromley, Janet and David. Wellington's Men Rememembered: A Register of Memorials to Soldiers Who Fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, M-Z. Vol. II. Barnsley: Praetorian Press (Pen & Sword Books), 2015.

Created 29 June 2016