Last year “City Matters”, the official City of London paper, published this letter I sent them.
Dear City Matters team,
I wanted to ask if you know anything about a strange piece of art that appeared on a plinth in front of the Royal Exchange on Easter Monday and then was removed by the Thursday.
I enclose photos I took of it and then the empty space it was on.
I suspect it was a renegade artist putting it there without permission, it was made of welded pennies with a begging bowl being held out in one hand.
At first I thought it might be a tribute to the Sherlock Holmes story, “The Man with the Twisted Lip” as it concerns a strange beggar in a very close location to where the statue was.
Can you look into this if possible?
I am a qualified City Guide so these things interest me.”
Here are the pictures:
Eventually the statue was removed but no explanation ever came about who had put it there, or why.
Here is a photo of it after the statue was removed.
Several months after this, the council placed back a lamp as shown here, but it is clearly new compared to the other lamps in the square – the glass is cleaner and a different quality to the other lamps.
Each lamp in the forecourt is dedicated to one of the Great 12 Livery companies – this one belongs to the Grocers, whose hall is just up the road.
I never managed to track down the mystery of this sculpture’s origins, but I personally think it is a tribute to the Sherlock Holmes story, The Man with the Twisted Lip, about a beggar sitting in a doorway very close by to the sculpture.
“Some little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be thrown at him by the passers-by. ”
Will we ever know?
