Equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch, London

Equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch
Equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch
Artist	Georges Malissard (statue); Paul Lebret (plinth);
Completion date	1930
Type	Sculpture ( Grosvenor Gardens, London
	51°29′47″N 0°08′43″W / 51.4964°N 0.14525°W
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Statue of Marshal Foch
Designated	24 February 1958
Reference no.	1066732

The equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch stands in

Lower Grosvenor Gardens, London. The sculptor was Georges Malissard and the statue is a replica of another raised in Cassel, France. Foch, appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces on the Western Front in the Spring of 1918, was widely seen as the architect of Germany's ultimate defeat and surrender in November 1918. Among many other honours, he was made an honorary Field marshal in the British Army, the only French military commander to receive such a distinction. Following Foch's death in March 1929, a campaign was launched to erect a statue in London in his memory. The Foch Memorial Committee chose Malissard as the sculptor, who produced a replica of his 1928 statue of Foch at Cassel. The statue was unveiled by the Prince of Wales on 5 June 1930. Designated a Grade II listed structure

in 1958, the statue's status was raised to Grade II* in 2016.

History

Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) began his military career as an enlisted soldier in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Gaining rapid promotion in the First World War, in March 1918 he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander of all the allied forces on the Western Front.^[1] The following months saw increasing allied success, and final German defeat, which Foch's great patron, the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, among others, attributed primarily to Foch's strategic direction.^[2]^[3] In November 1918, Foch accepted the German surrender and signed the

Forest of Compiegne.^[4]

Foch was the recipient of many French and foreign honours; among these the British government awarded him the

Royal Fine Art Commission, Lord Crawford, privately described the final design as "a very poor and commonplace thing".^[7] Nevertheless, the Memorial Committee pressed ahead, partly due to underfunding of the project and the relatively cheap cost of the replica.^[7] The final cost of the statue was £5000.^[8]

The statue was originally intended to stand at the northern end of Grosvenor Gardens, but Malissard insisted on a more southerly situation as the statue would then be seen by French visitors arriving at

Victoria Station, the London terminus for the prestigious cross-channel boat trains.^[5] The memorial was unveiled by Edward, Prince of Wales, on 5 June 1930^[9] at a ceremony also attended by Lloyd George, Admiral Lord Jellicoe and an array of British and French senior military officers.^[7]

Commemorative ceremonies held at the statue include a rededication in November 2014,[10] and a ceremony held on 26 March 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the appointment of Foch as Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front.^[11]^[12]

Architecture and description

The sculpture was designed by Georges Malissard

pebbledash lodges".^[15]

In 1958, the statue was designated a Grade II listed structure, a designation that was raised to Grade II* in 2016. The listing records the statue's historic and sculptural value, as well as its contribution to the overall setting of Grosvenor Gardens.^[5]