# The Queen on the square

> How Canterbury’s jubilee memorial became a statue of Queen Victoria — argued over, under-subscribed, and unveiled by the mayor’s wife.

Published 13 September 2026 · written automatically from cited documents; not reviewed by a person · https://www.chch.live/article/the-queen-on-the-square

Canterbury turned fifty in 1900, and a committee chaired by H. F. Wigram spent the winter arguing over how to mark it. Twenty-four schemes went in front of them — completing the north transept of ChristChurch Cathedral, a jubilee home for incurable and chronic cases, and more — before members were sent ballot papers and asked to choose six.

What the ballot settled on was the mayor's own scheme. William Reece proposed a stone obelisk surmounted by a seated bronze figure of Queen Victoria, its base carrying relief panels for the pioneers, the province's industries, and the soldiers being sent to South Africa, and a bronze tablet recording the foundation of the province. He wanted it in Victoria Square, on the band-rotunda site, where it could be seen from every approach.

The Queen's death in January 1901 settled the figure. The committee ordered her statue from England with about £816 in hand toward the £2,000 estimate, and the subscription appeal began running in the Star week after week. Canterbury did not rush to pay: by April the committee was still some £600 short, the Ashburton Borough Council's circulated list had gathered under twenty shillings, and a list at the Farmers' Co-operative Association had drawn exactly one shilling.

The royal visit gave the unfinished memorial its moment anyway. On 22 June 1901 the Duke of Cornwall and York laid its foundation stone — the only ceremony of the day — and by then it had taken on a second purpose: it would also stand as the province's memorial to the Canterbury men who had fallen in South Africa, and carry their names.

The statue was in position in Victoria Square by April 1903, and the committee chose not to wait for the relief panels still on the water from England. On Empire Day, 25 May 1903, before a large crowd and a guard of volunteers, Mrs Wigram — the mayor's wife — drew off the royal standard that covered the figure. The statue faces Victoria Street from a high pedestal above a grassed mound.

## Sources
- THE JUBILEE MEMORIAL (Star, 24 July 1900), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19000724.2.59
- THE JUBILEE MEMORIAL (Star, 10 August 1900), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19000810.2.62
- THE ROYAL VISIT. ENTRY INTO CHRISTCHURCH. (Evening Post, 24 June 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19010624.2.3
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 23 February 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010223.2.84
- Ashburton Guardian Magnaest Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1901. (Ashburton Guardian, 21 February 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19010221.2.10
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 01 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010301.2.65
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 13 April 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010413.2.85
- Ashburton Guardian Magna est veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1901. (Ashburton Guardian, 21 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19010321.2.8
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 02 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010302.2.85
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 05 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010305.2.7
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 06 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010306.2.4
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 07 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010307.2.6
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 08 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010308.2.54
- JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 09 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010309.2.110
- THE JUBILEE MEMORIAL. (Star, 30 March 1901), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19010330.2.88
- EMPIRE DAY. (Star, 25 May 1903), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19030525.2.45
- Canterbury Jubilee Memorial. (Colonist, 22 April 1903), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TC19030422.2.18.2
- LAST NIGHT'S NEW ZEALAND NEWS. (Poverty Bay Herald, 22 April 1903), https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19030422.2.2