Page 56 - Hampdens Monument Unveiled

THE TIMES
TUESDAY 20th JUNE 1843

AND IDENTICALLY

WINDSOR AND ETON JOURNAL
TUESDAY 20th JUNE 1843

THE HAMPDEN MEMORIAL

Chalgrove, June 19 - The completion of the Hampden Memorial,
recently erected on Chalgrove Field, the scene of the patriot's
last and fatal struggle with the Royalist army, was celebrated
this day by a dinner, at which a large number of admirers of
the character of that great man assembled to do honour to his
memory on the Two Hundredth anniversary of his death.

In the origin of the testimonial itself, we believe little is
known by the public generally, nor were the proceedings of this
day calculated to throw much light on the subject, A few
notices have appeared within the last few weeks in some of the
local papers, to the effect that a monument was about to be
erected on the field of Chalgrove, to commemorate the death of
John Hampden and subsequent announcements fixed this day as the
period for its final completion.

The character of Hampden stands too high in the annuals of
history to doubt the propriety of making the estimation in
which his efforts to maintain the rights and liberties of his
country men inviolate must ever be held by posterity; and it is
to be regretted, that on the occasion of carrying out a design
in itself so praiseworthy, those immediately engaged in the
work have either not sought or, at any rate, failed to secure
that aid which would have rendered the "Hampden Memorial,
somewhat more worthy of the man whose virtues it is proposed to
commemorate. Chalgrove field is a large open plain, extending
to 100 acres, bounded on the north by hills which cross
Oxfordshire at this point of the country. The view generally is
circumscribed except on the south, where a fine glimpse of the
open country is obtained.

The announcement of the celebration of the completion of the
memorial appears to have excited considerable interest in the
surrounding counties of Buckingham, Northampton, Oxford and
Berks, and at an early hour this morning crowds of country
people from the surrounding villages were seen hastening
towards the locality. The name Hampden has always been popular
in this part of the country and the distant towns of Banbury,
Aylesbury, Buckingham, &, each supplied its quota of visitors.
The neighbouring towns of Wallingford and Oxford also supplied
a very numerous attendance, the stagecoaches and carriages