I had to attend a meeting at the former Transport House in Smith Square and as I drifted back towards the tube station I worked my way through the gardens by the Thames leading towards the gothic pile that is the Houses of Parliament. I was surprised to see the Buxton Memorial (erected to commemorate the part played by one of the campaigners for the abolition of slavery). It is now looking very sprightly in this year marking the two centuries since the passing of the Act. Further along is Rodin's sculpture of the burghers of Calais - a truly remarkable piece, and how wonderful to see it sitting in a public park where can be enjoyed (or ignored) by thousands of tourists. Then under the huge prescence of the grand Victoria Tower above the sovereign's entrance, in a little nook of its own is a memrial to Emmeline Pankhurst. Now I have a connection with Mrs P and her redoubtable daughters, because I was for a while a Superintendent Registrar in Manchester, and the Suffragette Leader was for a number of years a Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the Chorlton on Medlock sub district. She worked out of her home in Nelson Street (near to the birth place of David Lloyd George). Her daughters were her deputies. So I have issued many certificates from registers bearing their signatures. 
Further along my way to the tube station there are two further statues of note: Richard Coeur de Lion and Oliver Cromwell. I can't say the statue of George V on the opposite side of the road is noteworthy though. If I had been feeling better I would have sought out Nelson Mandella. One of those wonderful things about London is finding works of art to look at.
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