Boadicea and her daughters at Captain's Walk, Brecon

Image: © Gerald England Taken: 5 Jun 2024

This 1855 Bronze statue of Boadicea (Boudica) and her daughters by sculptor John Thomas now stands at Captain's Walk in Brecon. John Thomas originally created a marble statue commissioned by the wealthy Birmingham politician and entrepreneur Sir Morton Peto for the mansion that Thomas was designing for him. The sculpture was the first to represent Boadicea and was shown at the 1857 Royal Academy Exhibition alongside Venus and Cupid and busts of Queen Victoria. Quite how the bronze version came to be made by the great Birmingham metal works of Elkingtons is a mystery. This version was displayed in the 1862 International Exhibition, in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, where it surmounted Elkington's display in the "Birmingham Court". At the opening of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 1885, John Thomas' Boadicea was on view, having been presented by Elkingtons. The statue was subsequently transferred to Brecon County Council and from there to the Brecknock Museum. In 1979, the statue came down by lorry from Birmingham to Brecon, and, so the story goes, the sword disappears while it was parked overnight in Builth. In 1992, extensive repair was carried out and a replacement sword made by MB Fine Art. For many years Boadicea stood beside the museum in Glamorgan Street Image but now it has been moved to Captain's Walk. Information from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/649d4579168838251e67aa8c/t/64de33085314cf7906ba2019/1692283658920/Tewdric-and-Boadicea-Two-Old-Friends-by-William-Gibbs.pdf which has much fascinating information about this and another statue. Detail: Image

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