A Boy with a Pitcher in St James's Park, Westminster. The figure of the boy was designed by Charles Henry Mabey (1835-1912) but carved in white marble by Robert Jackson (c.1824-c.1905), who is also credited with the marble-panelled granite base. Installed in 1863, when Mabey was first recorded at a London address (see Cavanagh 446), but with "scallop shell waterbowls which were added by Jackson in 1865" (listing text). [Click on these images for larger pictures.]
Left: The worn signs of ornamentation on the pitcher. Right: The monogrammed "V.R. 1863" on the base.
The London Gardens Trust explains that the initiative for many such drinking fountains in London came from the MP Samuel Gurney, a nephew of the social reformer Elizabeth Fry, who was "inspired by public drinking fountains newly installed by civic authorities in northern cities like Liverpool and Hull, to found the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association" — and "by 1865 over 85 fountains had been erected." By 1867, this project had been renamed the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association (see the cattle trough in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, inscribed with that name).
Unfortunately, the figure of the boy on this fountain has met with some vicissitudes over the years. Even the head is a replacement, and perhaps not an entirely proportionate one. Also, like a number of others, the fountain is no longer connected to a water supply, so serves a purely ornamental purpose.
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Photographs and some of the research sources provided by Tim Willasey-Wilsey; formatting and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use these images 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 in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Bibliography
The Boy Fountain, North of Birdcage Walk/Queen Anne's Gate Junction. Historic England. Web. 7 October 2026.
Cavanagh, Terry. Public Sculpture of South London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Rabbitts, Paul. London's Royal Parks. Yorkshire/Philadelphia: Pen & Sword White Owl, 2025.
"Robert Jackson." Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Web. 7 October 2026. https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/mapping/public/view/person.php?id=msib6_1235668438
"Water, Water, Everywhere." London Gardens Trust. Web. 7 October 2026.
Created 7 October 2026