The Gift, Not The Giver...
Dave from Winnipeg has a fabulous question about General Wolfe's statue that must win the prize for specificity. I have absolutely no answer to this, but something tells me that one of you might...
Dave asks:
"Concerning the statue of General Wolfe. I believe the inscription on the plinth (describing the gift of the statue to Britain - TGP) was changed from "people of Quebec" to "people of Canada" sometime in the last twenty years."
Dave's trying to find an old photo taken from the rear that would bear this out. If any of you fancy shuffling through a few shoeboxes of old pics, he'd be mighty grateful.
While we're on the subject, I have always been slightly puzzled as to why the people of Quebec - or Canada - would want to give a statue of the man who whooped 'em 200 years ago to the country that invaded them. Maybe someone could enlighten me on that one, too...
Dave asks:
"Concerning the statue of General Wolfe. I believe the inscription on the plinth (describing the gift of the statue to Britain - TGP) was changed from "people of Quebec" to "people of Canada" sometime in the last twenty years."
Dave's trying to find an old photo taken from the rear that would bear this out. If any of you fancy shuffling through a few shoeboxes of old pics, he'd be mighty grateful.
While we're on the subject, I have always been slightly puzzled as to why the people of Quebec - or Canada - would want to give a statue of the man who whooped 'em 200 years ago to the country that invaded them. Maybe someone could enlighten me on that one, too...
Labels: Ask The Phantom, Debates
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:43
2 Comments:
No pics I'm afraid.
The inscription reads
"This monument the gift of the Canadian people was unveiled on the Fifth of June 1930 by the Marquis de Montcalm"
As far as I could tell the word "Canadian" was carved at the same time as the rest of the inscription.
I think the original Montcalm was Wolfe's opponent in Canada. Did he get a road in Charlton named after him as a consolation prize?
There are some quite big dents on the face of the inscription which were apparently caused by gunfire from a German plane in WWII.
www.charltonlife.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=13681&page=2
Hmm....? Thats a strange one, having asked around a bit the only reason we can think that it might have been changed is because of the "silent war" waged by the seperatist Quebecois movement in the 70's. Although why they would have their name on it in the first place is a mystery to me.
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