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Description: | Standing figure with weight on left leg and with right leg inclined to rear. Right arm slightly extended, left arm raised with left hand holding border of gown. Wearing academic robes, probably those of Chancellor of University of Wales. Additional Information: Henry Austin Bruce, Lord Aberdare (1815-1895) was born at Dyffryn, Aberdare. Educated in France and Wales he was called to the Bar in 1837. He was the Stipendiary Magistrate for Merthyr Tydfil from 1847 to 1852 when he was returned unopposed as the Liberal MP for Merthyr Tydfil. In 1862 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department and two years later became vice-president of the Committee of Council on Education and was admitted a Privy Councillor. In 1868 he became Home Secretary and was raised to the peerage in 1873. He took a great interest in education and in 1880 was appointed Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Intermediate and Higher Education in Wales and Monmouthshire. The ensuing Aberdare Report stimulated debate about the university movement in Wales and became the basis for the Welsh Intermediate Act of 1889. Lord Aberdare was elected the first President of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire following its foundation in 1883. He also served as President of University College, Aberystwyth, from 1875 to 1895. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, President of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Royal Historical Society. He knew Welsh and translated poems of Taliesin ab Iolo and Owen Gruffydd. In recognition of his contributin to Welsh education, he was elected Chancellor of the University of Wales but died only a fortnight after the election in February 1895. | Subjects: | Statue | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Sculptor: Hampton, Herbert Foundry: Hollinshead & Burton | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=6717... | Go to resource |
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