Autograph letter signed by E. Onslow Ford about the Gordon Statue Chatham 1888

FORD, Edward Onslow (1852-1901). Autograph letter signed to Lieutenant-Colonel Villiers Hatton concerning his memorial statue of General Gordon. 16 November 1888.
 
Single page folded, written over two sides, 155 x 100 mm, on 62 Acacia Road, St John's Wood headed paper. Old folds, some creasing and scattered foxing, otherwise very good.
 
Writing while engaged upon his memorial statue of General Gordon for the Royal Engineers at Chatham, Ford welcomes Hatton's proposal to send friends to view the work. He remarks that anyone interested in "the hero whose memory we wish to honour" would be welcome, and adds that it gives him great pleasure to know that his work "has not been altogether in vain." 
 
Ford's celebrated bronze depicts Gordon mounted on a camel and was developed from studies made while the sculptor was working on the commission during the late 1880s. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy and unveiled at Brompton Barracks, Chatham, in 1890. The recipient, Lieutenant-Colonel Villiers Hatton, later commanded the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards during the Nile campaign of 1898. A particularly good association letter concerning one of Ford's major public monuments.