Statue unveiled as Gibraltar remembers Trafalgar
By Alice Mascarenhas
A statue of Admiral Lord Nelson, is as from today keeping a watchful eye over Trafalgar Cemetery, 200 years after the Battle.
Although a dull overcast day with the threat of a downpour a few hundred people gathered yesterday at tea-time to presence the unveiling by Chief Minister Peter Caruana. The civilian and military gathering was impressive, led by the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West who just last week participated in the Trafalgar celebrations in the UK.
Present too was the Governor, CBF, Government Ministers, the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society in the UK, and of course the sculptor, well known throughout Europe, John Doubleday. His enthusiasm for the subject is more than just an interest being a descendent from Nelson’s Commanding Officer John Jarvis.
The ceremony on a grand scale saw the participation of the Re-enactment Society in new clean-cut Royal Marine uniforms of the period standing guard behind the statue with the Chief Minister describing the unveiling as a significant part of Gibraltar’s and Britain’s commemoration of the life of Lord Nelson and victory at Trafalgar.
“There is something about this great hero that still ignites a spark of enthusiasm and interest in ordinary people,” he declared. “It is only right that we should be here in Gibraltar to play our part in the 200th commemoration of this great man, who has so extraordinarily become a part of British folklore,” he added.
As the Chief Minister spoke of the links between Gibraltar and Trafalgar mentioning the Chronicle scoop, he emphasised there were many other links shared with the rest of the English speaking world.
“But for Lord Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar the world would not have been as it was for the next 200 years, and like all other members of the great British family, we have all enjoyed hugely the fruits of that British dominance which gave us our language, culture and political and administrative systems, justice and democratic values,” he stated emphasising that in the case of Gibraltar if it had not been for the victory at Trafalgar the Rock may not still have been British today. “Who knows what might have happened and how the course of history might have been different had the battle not been won,” he added.
The Chief Minister thanked the First Sea Lord for being in Gibraltar for the celebrations adding that his presence here was a sign of the regard he holds for the Rock. Mr Caruana thanked the sculptor John Doubleday, brother-in-law of former Governor Sir David Durie, not just for the creation of the statue but for donating his fee to a UK medical charity of his choosing which will be announced in due course and another chosen by the Gibraltar Government which chose the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.
They in turn will use the money for the restoration works and refurbishment of the chapel at Sacred Heart School. The Chief Minister also thanked and recognised the work and initiative of former Heritage Trust chairman Joe Desoisa in the initial stages of the creation of the statue. The statue he said was a magnificent representation of Nelson whose face is supposed to capture how he would have looked at the time he was last alive in Gibraltar.
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West told the Chronicle it was appropriate that there should be a statue of Nelson in Gibraltar especially so opposite the cemetery.
“I think it is very good and a very approachable statue,” he said glad to be here for the ceremony because this was where the Victory came to before the journey back to England.
The over real-life size statue, standing seven feet high above its plinth is made out of bronze containing copper from the ship HMS Victory.
From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801
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FOGHS (Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society)
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200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar
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