Alexandra Park, Statue of Joseph Howarth

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 3 Mar 2013

This statue of Joseph Howard "Old Blind Joe", in Alexandra Park, was erected in 1868. Joe was blind from birth but had an amazing memory. It is said that he could recite chapters from the Bible once they had been read to him. He was elected as the town’s bellman (Town Cryer) in 1820; a role he carried out conscientiously until 1860. One of his jobs was to ring his bell to open and close Tommyfield Market where he also had a pie and muffin stall. For many years he was also a Wesleyan lay preacher. It was stated that the Statue was not erected to commemorate his services as a bellman but to honour his services to religion. He died in 1862. The inscription on the plinth reads: JOSEPH HOWARTH UPWARDS OF 40 YEARS THE WELL KNOWN BLIND BELLMAN OF OLDHAM ERECTED BY VOLUNTARY SUBSCRIPTIONS PRESENTED TO THE PARK MAY 9TH 1868 _________________________________ HE DIED ON THE 17th DAY OF MAY 1862 IN THE 76th YEAR OF HIS AGE It has been suggested that, at the time of its unveiling in 1868, this was the only statue in England where the subject is wearing a top hat, but I have been unable to confirm whether or not this is true. There have been other such statues erected since then, notably several of engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel featuring his trademark top hat http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=47503391&displayclass=bigger .

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0