Page 38 - The Tale of Two Fountains

THE TALE OF TWO FOUNTAINS
Mumbai Fountain before Restoration Fountain in BDL Museum Gardens
This was the moment of truth! The Curator at the museum took us straight to the east lawn of the museum and there it stood in the bright afternoon sunshine under a blue sky, the identical struc- ture, the replica of the Northampton Fountain. Although in a poor state of repair, “the striking structure in cast iron, 45 feet high and 19 feet wide’ was a remarkable sight.
The Fountain was removed from its original site at the Metro Cinema Junction in the 1960s to make way for a new traffic scheme to ease the traffic congestion in the area. It was moved to the east gar- dens of the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum. Unfortunately, some of its parts were misplaced or were missing. What is ironical is that both the fountains were removed from their sites around the same time. What a sad coincidence!
But how did Northampton’s twin fountain get to Bombay and who paid for it?
We came across more interesting articles in the Times of India, dated 2nd October 1867 and 12th March 1868, which confirmed that this fountain was ordered from England by Mr Rustomjee Jam- setjee Jejeebhoy (1824–1872)5, the son of a rich Parsi Indian Cotton merchant and a well-known philanthropist, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 1st Baronet Jejeebhoy of Bombay. However, it appears that he got into financial difficulty before the fountain reached Bombay and therefore his trustees did not sanction the expenditure. The Esplanade Fee Fund Committee, therefore, bought the fountain for Rs. 14,000 and presented it to the city. It was erected opposite the Robert Money School in 1867
28