Edward Jenner & the Missing (Fifth) Plinth

The national spotlight is currently shining brightly on an empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. Built in 1841 the ‘Fourth plinth’ was intended for an equestrian statue but was recently the subject of a hotly contested competition by artists who desired their own brand of art fill the plinth.

Famous figures in the world of art such as Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, and Tracey Emin battled to have a spot to showcase their art in central London’s most famous of squares.

Today, a moment of fame on the world’s most famous plinth is within reach to anyone who has the inclination to apply.

Of course, Trafalgar Square’s most celebrated monument is Nelson’s Column, designed in 1843 by William Railton and erected in 1845.

But did you know that a ‘Fifth plinth’ once existed in Trafalgar Square?

On this plinth sat a statue of Dr Edward Jenner (1749-1823), the father of Immunology and the pioneer of vaccination. His work on the development of the smallpox vaccine has saved millions of lives and led to the development of vaccines that have had a significant and lasting impact on world health.

Smallpox – the ‘speckled monster’ - was greatly feared and accounted for millions of deaths around the world. In London alone, 10% of all deaths in the eighteenth century were as a result of Smallpox. Smallpox was disfiguring and horrific. It infected old and young, rich and poor. Those sufferers who survived were often blind and disfigured by spotty scars. Famous Smallpox sufferers included Queen Elizabeth I, Mozart and Queen Mary II (wife of William III). The latter was not to survive.

On 14 May 1796 Edward Jenner finally made a breakthrough with a cure for Smallpox at his country home, The Chantry, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire (now The Edward Jenner Museum). Lymph from a cowpox pustule of dairymaid Sarah Nelmes, caught from a Gloucester cow Blossom, was vaccinated by Jenner into James Phipps aged 8. Later when the boy was inoculated with smallpox, the feared symptoms failed to appear. Jenner called it ‘vaccination’ from the Latin vacca for cow.

This process marked the beginning of a worldwide eradication of a devastating disease. In the late eighteenth century, Jenner predicted: The annihilation of smallpox – the most dreadful scourge of the human species – will be the final result of this practice. The World Health Organization finally declared the world rid of the disease in 1979 following an international eradication programme. The WHO declared Smallpox one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity.

So far, it is the only disease to ever be eradicated from the world.

International Recognition

Jenner’s research was duly acknowledged internationally. Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States was a keen supporter of vaccination. In a letter to Jenner in 1806 he wrote: Yours is the comfortable reflection that mankind can never forget that you have lived. Future nations will know by history only that the loathsome small-pox has existed and by you has been extirpated.
Showered with a variety of international honours, gifts and medals, Jenner was also acknowledged with many statues. The first was erected in 1825 in Gloucester Cathedral, a few miles from his home town of Berkeley inscribed simply ‘Jenner’. Other commissions followed and statues around the world in major cities can be found in Italy, France, and Tokyo - the latter stands in the gardens of the National Museum.

Following permission from Queen Victoria, a statue to Jenner was erected in Trafalgar Square in recognition of his enormous contribution to the welfare of mankind. Top of the list of donors for the statue was America, followed by Russia.

Britain was last.

Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, a keen supporter of vaccination and himself the leading British contributor to the memorial fund, presided over the inaugural occasion on the anniversary of Jenner’s birth in May 1858. According to reports of the occasion anyone who was anyone was there and all agreed it was an excellent likeness to Jenner.

Removal of Statue

However, not long afterwards the statue was removed. A non-military character sitting reflectively but not astride a horse, was thought inappropriate in Trafalgar Square. The Times supported its relocation and Parliament similarly demanded it be removed. The medical profession led by The Lancet and the British Medical Journal were furious and fought vigorously to preserve the statue. Punch naturally joined in the bitter debate getting straight to the point:

England’s ingratitude still blots
The escutcheon of the brave and free;
I saved you many million spots
And now you grudge one spot for me

The Prince Consort, Jenner’s main supporter died in December 1861 and by 1862 Jenner’s statue had been moved to Kensington Gardens, the first to be placed there. It currently still stands in the Italian Gardens. Many however commented that it was entirely out of place.

St George’s Hospital originally sited at Hyde Park Corner, put in a bid for the statue in 1896 on the centennial anniversary of Jenner’s great discoveries. Jenner had been a student there and the illustrious surgeon, John Hunter, Jenner’s mentor and friend, had been a surgeon at the hospital. It is just as well the statue wasn’t moved again as this site is now a hotel.

Jenner continues to sit resplendent in his Kensington surroundings but it is perhaps ironic that they are ‘Italian’ gardens. Shunned by the British establishment, he was forcibly removed from his rightful place in the heart of London’s Trafalgar Square. One can speculate whether these new artworks are worthy of such a place. What would the puritanical Victorian press for instance make of today’s debate?

New Demand to re-instate Jenner Statue

2009 marks 260 years since Jenner’s birth and the 30th anniversary of the eradication of Smallpox. Ironically, it is a disease that has all but been forgotten by the world following Dr Jenner’s pioneering research.

Jenner has been cast into the shade for long enough. It is time for one of the world’s forgotten heroes to have his statue reinstated in Trafalgar Square in its rightful place. This would be a fitting tribute to Jenner and his victory in mankind’s ‘war’ on disease.

Join our campaign to get Dr Jenner’s statue reinstated.

Sign up now:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Jenner2010/


Sarah Parker
Director
The Edward Jenner Museum, Berkeley, Gloucestershire
http://www.jennermuseum.com/ info@edwardjenner.co.uk

Sources: John Empson BSc BLitt – Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, September 1996