Statue of Jan Smuts, Parliament Square

Statue of Jan Smuts
The statue in 2013
Artist	Jacob Epstein
Medium	Bronze sculpture
Subject	Jan Smuts
Location	London, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°30′03″N 0°07′37″W

A life-size bronze statue of Jan Smuts by the British artist Jacob Epstein stands on the north side of Parliament Square in London, United Kingdom, between a statue of Lord Palmerston and a statue of David Lloyd George.

Description

The statue depicts him in his military uniform as a field marshal, leaning forward with his left leg advanced, as if walking forward. The statue stands on a pedestal of granite from South Africa, which bears the inscription JAN/ CHRISTIAN/ SMUTS/ 1870–1950.

History

After Winston Churchill won the 1951 UK general election in October 1951, he proposed erecting a statue in Parliament Square as a memorial to Smuts, who had died in September 1950. Churchill retired as prime minister in 1955, and was too ill to perform the unveiling in November 1956; it was unveiled instead by the Speaker of the House of Commons, William Morrison. The statue became a Grade II listed building in 1970.

External links

• Jan Christian Smuts – Parliament Square, London, UK at Waymarking
• Statue of Field Marshal Jan Smuts, National Heritage List for England Historic England
• Smuts statue, londonremembers.com
• Parliament Square Garden, london.gov.uk
• The Statues of Parliament Square, Bowl Of Chalk – London Walking Tours, 12 November 2013
• Parliament Square statues, Bob Speel
• Smuts Statue Unveiled 1956, Pathé