Peel Memorial

The Peel Memorial stands in Bury town centre, a bronze statue by Edward Hodges Baily on a tall granite pedestal. It commemorates Sir Robert Peel, twice Prime Minister and founder of the British Conservative Party, who was born in Bury. Peel is shown in mid-speech, dressed in the fashion of his day, as if addressing the House of Commons on free trade. The pedestal’s front carries the Peel coat of arms and the name ‘Peel’ in bronze letters. On the sides are bronze reliefs of Commerce and Navigation, while the back holds a circular panel with a quotation from one of his speeches. The statue was commissioned after Peel’s sudden death in 1850, when a public meeting called for a monument. Nearly two thousand people contributed funds, from large donations by local figures to a single penny from a Miss Rachel Knowles. The committee chose Baily over other leading sculptors and exhibited the proposals so the public could see them. Over fourteen thousand visitors climbed the town hall steps, some in stockinged feet, to view the models before the choice was made. Today the statue stands on a paved area in the town square, surrounded by modern buildings. The inscription on the back of the pedestal quotes Peel’s words on untaxed food and fair reward for labour. A small iron railing once stood around the monument, lit by gas lamps at each corner, but these were removed long ago. The statue remains a Grade II listed building and a focus for local memory of Peel’s reforms.