Page 35 - Hindsight Issue 26 April 2020

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celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden Jubilee in 1887. this led to the chief advocate of the proposal, the popular Dr Cuthbert Johnson, sending anonymously foxes’ tails to Burton with a note implying that if the working people of Daventry could not have their sport then the sport of Burton and his hunting friends would be disrupted. When Johnson was discovered to be the sender of the note, Burton took him to court for threatening behaviour and libel with intent to extort money, leading to a month’s imprisonment for Johnson in northampton gaol. Johnson’s release and return to the town were met with great rejoicing by crowds lining the streets from Daventry station to Johnson’s house in sheaf street. Burton’s actions had made him so unpopular in the town that he decided to withdraw as the Conservative candidate in the 1888 County Council election. When the controversy had died down Burton did eventually get elected to the County Council in subsequent elections but his actions in 1887 were long remembered and resented by many Daventrians.
Consequently many people in the town would have felt it an insult to them when in March 1908 some of Burton’s friends proposed erecting a permanent memorial to Burton’s honour in the town. the organisers advertised for subscriptions from Burton’s acquaintances; 137 donations, totalling £453 6s 4d, were made largely from friends among his hunting, steeplechasing and rowing circles and from political and professional colleagues; little attempt was made to raise money in the town.
It was no surprise that the Borough Council with its Conservative majority and for whom Burton had been town Clerk, approved the idea of a memorial. It drew up plans and designs for a drinking fountain to be erected on the Market Hill with the Council agreeing to fund the installation of water for the fountain. A design described as ‘a most handsome monument’, ‘a perfect memorial’ and ‘a thing of beauty and a joy forever’ was submitted to the organisers of the memorial, based in London, for approval.
Almost two years later, in February 1911 the Burton Memorial was unveiled. It was 30 feet high, decorated with a gothic cross and plaques listing Burton’s education and his personal qualities. the water fountain was turned on in April 1911 and proved to be a ‘notable diversion for the children’.
still the Burton Memorial stands in the Market square, often thought of as a market cross or a medieval monument; the reasons for its erection long forgotten. A memorial produced by Burton’s sporting, political, business and family friends, not the people of the town.
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