The Statues of London,England. October 2012
Seen here: Henry Fawcett the blind academic, statesman and economist. Erected to the memory of Fawcett by his grateful countrywomen.
Fawcett was born in Salisbury, and educated at King's College School and the University of Cambridge: entering Peterhouse in 1852, he migrated to Trinity Hall the following year, and became a fellow there in 1856, the year he graduated BA as 7th Wrangler.In 1858, when he was 25, he was blinded in a shooting accident. Despite his blindness, he continued with his studies, especially in economics. He was able to enter Lincoln's Inn but decided against a career as a barrister and took his name off their books in 1860.
After repeated defeats as a Liberal Party candidate, Fawcett was elected Member of Parliament for Brighton in 1865. He held this seat until 1874, and thereafter represented Hackney between 1874 and 1884. He campaigned for women's suffrage. In 1880 he was appointed Postmaster-General by William Ewart Gladstone and sworn of the Privy Council. He had a particular interest in encouraging saving through the Post Office Savings Bank. He introduced the savings stamp which allowed people to save pennies at a time to build up the minimum account limit of a shilling.
Through his campaigning for women's suffrage, Fawcett met Elizabeth Garrett, to whom he proposed in 1865. She rejected the proposal to concentrate on becoming a doctor at a time when women doctors were extremely rare. However, in 1867 Fawcett married her younger sister Millicent Garrett in 1867. They had one child, Philippa Fawcett. Fawcett's career was cut short by his premature death from pleurisy in November 1884, aged 51
We pass them without so much of a glance but I decided to walk the embankment and Westminster area of London and take a good long look at the Statues of London. Most of the works are of Victorians many we have never heard of such as those who reformed the British educations system or built our drains or wh