Monument · St Helier
King George II
A gilded lead figure of George II by the London sculptor John Cheere, set up here on 9 July 1751 — the first public statue on Jersey.
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The story
A gilded lead figure of George II by the London sculptor John Cheere, set up here on 9 July 1751 — the first public statue on Jersey. A popular satirical legend claims it was merely a second-hand Julius Caesar with a Garter ribbon added to disguise him (an account dating to 1798), and Victorian visitors were rude about him in print. Island milestones nevertheless measured their distances from this figure. The restoration of 1998–99 stripped off more than thirty layers of gilding, paint and plaster, uncovering detail unseen for two centuries — and the fact that the King has two left feet. A Jèrriais saying runs: I' n'y'a qu'un bouan houmme en Jèrri: il est dans l'Vièr Marchi. There's only one good man in Jersey: he's in the Old Market.
