Cleopatra's Needle, London

This article is about the obelisk in London. For the article describing the original pair, see Cleopatra's Needles.
Cleopatra's Needle
The western side of Cleopatra's Needle in London.
Interactive map of Cleopatra's Needle
LocationLondon
Coordinates51°30′31″N 0°07′13″W / 51.508517°N 0.120336°W / 51.508517; -0.120336
TypeObelisk
MaterialAswan red granite (obelisk)
Completion datec. 1450 BC (obelisk)

Cleopatra's Needle in London is one of a pair of obelisks, together named Cleopatra's Needles, that were moved from the ruins of the Caesareum of Alexandria, in Egypt, in the 19th century. Inscribed by Thutmose III and later Ramesses II of the Egyptian New Kingdom, the obelisk was moved in 12 BC to Alexandria, where it remained for over 1,800 years.

It was presented to the Prince Regent in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, as a diplomatic gift to mark British victories over the French in Egypt, namely the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and the Battle of Alexandria in 1801.[1][2][3] Although the British government welcomed the gesture, it declined to pay to move the obelisk to London. It was subsequently erected in the West End of London on the Victoria Embankment in Westminster, in 1878.

History

The obelisk was originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. It is made of red granite, brought from the quarries of Aswan, near the first cataract of the Nile. Thutmose III had a single column of text carved on each face, these were translated by E. A. Wallis Budge.[4] Other inscriptions were added about 200 years later by Ramesses II to commemorate his military victories: these are in two columns on each face, flanking the original inscriptions. The obelisks were moved to Alexandria and set up in the Caesareum, a temple built by Cleopatra in honour of Mark Antony or Julius Caesar by the Romans in 12 BC, during the reign of Augustus, but one was toppled some time later. This had the fortuitous effect of burying its faces and so preserving most of the hieroglyphs from the effects of weathering.

Transport from Alexandria

The obelisk remained in Alexandria until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a distinguished anatomist and dermatologist, sponsored its transportation to London from Alexandria at a cost of some £10,000. Following consultation with Mathew William Simpson, a railway and locomotive engineer working for the Khedive of Egypt and a friend of Wilson who shared his passion for Egyptian antiquities, it was dug out of the sand in which it had been buried for nearly 2,000 years and was encased in a great iron cylinder, 92 feet (28 metres) long and 16 feet (4.9 metres) in diameter. This was designed by the engineer John Dixon (from original plans drawn up for Wilson by Mathew William Simpson, who was unable to undertake the work due to being under contract to the Khedive), and dubbed Cleopatra, to be commanded by Captain Carter. It was built at the Thames Iron Works, shipped to Alexandria in separate pieces, and built around the obelisk by Waynman Dixon, John's brother.[5] It had a vertical stem and stern, a rudder, two bilge keels, a mast for balancing sails, and a deck house. This acted as a floating pontoon which was to be towed to London by the ship Olga, commanded by Captain Booth.[6] The ships set off from Alexandria on 21 September 1877.[2]

On 14 October 1877, a storm in the Bay of Biscay caused the ship Cleopatra to roll violently and become uncontrollable, forcing the towropes to be cut. The Olga launched a rescue boat with six volunteers - William Askin, Joseph Benbow, Michael Burns, William Donald, James Gardiner, and William Patan - but the boat capsized, and all six crew members died.[7]

Captain Booth on the Olga eventually managed to get his ship next to the Cleopatra and rescued Captain Carter and the five crew members aboard Cleopatra. Captain Booth reported the Cleopatra "abandoned and sinking", but she stayed afloat, drifting in the Bay, until found four days later by Spanish trawler boats, and then rescued by the Glasgow steamer Fitzmaurice and taken to Ferrol in Spain for repairs. The master of the Fitzmaurice lodged a salvage claim of £5,000 which had to be settled before departure from Ferrol, but it was negotiated down and settled for £2,000 in the Admiralty Court. The William Watkins Ltd paddle tug Anglia, under the command of Captain David Glue, was then commissioned to tow the Cleopatra back to the Thames.[8][9]

On their arrival in the estuary on 21 January 1878, the school children of Gravesend were given the day off.[10] The Anglia moored at East India Docks.[11] A wooden model of the obelisk had previously been placed outside the Houses of Parliament, but the location had been rejected, so the London needle was finally erected on the Victoria Embankment on 12 September 1878.[12]

Erection

The original master stone mason who worked on the granite foundation was Lambeth-born William Henry Gould (1822–1891).

On erection of the obelisk in 1878, a time capsule was concealed in the front part of the pedestal, containing 12 photographs of the best-looking English women of the day, a box of hairpins, a box of cigars, several tobacco pipes, a set of imperial weights, a baby's bottle, some children's toys, a shilling razor, a hydraulic jack and some samples of the cable used in the erection, a 3-foot (90-centimetre) bronze model of the monument, a complete set of contemporary British coins, a rupee, a portrait of Queen Victoria, a history of the transport of the monument plans, written on vellum, a translation of the inscriptions, copies of the Bible in several languages, a copy of John 3:16 in 215 languages,[13] a copy of Whitaker's Almanack, a Bradshaw Railway Guide, a map of London, and copies of 10 daily newspapers. A twenty-four inch metal ruler was also reportedly included.[14]

Cleopatra's Needle is flanked by two faux-Egyptian bronze sphinxes, designed by the English architect George John Vulliamy, and made at the Eccleston Iron Works in Pimlico in 1881.[15][2] The sphinxes bear hieroglyphic inscriptions that say netjer nefer men-kheper-re di ankh, which translates as "the good god, Thuthmosis III given life". These sphinxes appear to be looking at the Needle rather than guarding it, due to the sphinxes' improper or backwards installation. The Embankment has other Egyptian flourishes, such as buxom winged sphinxes on the armrests of benches.

On 4 September 1917, during World War I, a bomb from a German air raid landed near the needle.[16] In commemoration of this event, the damage remains unrepaired to this day and is clearly visible in the form of shrapnel holes and gouges on the western sphinx.[17] Restoration work was carried out in 2005.[18]

Plaques

North‑west, facing street:

Through the patriotic zeal of Erasmus Wilson F.R.S. this obelisk was brought from Alexandria encased in an iron cylinder. It was abandoned during a storm in the Bay of Biscay, recovered and erected on this spot by John Dixon C.E., in the 42nd year of the reign of Queen Victoria, 1878[19]

North‑east:

This obelisk quarried at Syene was erected at On (Heliopolis) by the Pharaoh Thothmes III about 1500 B.C. Lateral inscriptions were added nearly two centuries later by Rameses the Great. Removed during the Greek dynasty to Alexandria, the royal city of Cleopatra, it was there erected in the 18th year of Augustus Cæsar B.C. 12[20]

South‑west:

This obelisk, prostrate for centuries on the sands of Alexandria, was presented to the British nation A.D. 1819 by Mahommed Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, a worthy memorial of our distinguished countrymen, Nelson and Abercromby[21]

South-east, facing river:

William Askin · James Gardiner · Joseph Benbow · Michael Burns · William Donald · William Patan Perished in a bold attempt to succour the crew of the obelisk ship “Cleopatra” during the storm October 14th 1877[22]

On plinth of bronze sphinx:

The scars that disfigure the pedestal of the obelisk, the bases of the sphinxes, and the right hand sphinx, were caused by fragments of a bomb dropped in the roadway close to this spot, in the first raid on London by German aeroplanes a few minutes before midnight on Tuesday 4th September 1917[17]

  • North-east plaque
  • South-east plaque
  • Sphinx plaque
  • Egyptian-style additions at the base of the obelisk
  • Cleopatra's Needle as seen from the River Thames
  • Sphinx to the east of Cleopatra's Needle

See also

References

  1. ^ Elliott, Chris (2022). Needles from the Nile: Obelisks and the Past as Property. Liverpool University Press. p. 68.
  2. ^ a b c "How Cleopatra's Needle came to London". London Museum. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  3. ^ Smith, Nicholas (10 April 2014). "Cleopatra's Needle • V&A Blog". V&A Blog. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  4. ^ Wallis Budge, E. A. (1926). Cleopatra's Needles and Other Egyptian Obelisks. London: Religious Tract Society. pp. 168–171.
  5. ^ "Waynman Dixon". Graces Guide. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Royal Museums Greenwich". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  7. ^ Smith, Nicholas (10 April 2014). "Cleopatra's Needle • V&A Blog". V&A Blog. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  8. ^ Gorringe, Henry (1885). Egyptian Obelisks. Michigan University: John C. Nimmo. p. 105. ISBN 9781330336892. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  9. ^ Rogers, Stanley (1936). Freak Ships. New York: Greenberg. pp. 9–17.
  10. ^ "SS Anglia". Thames Tugs (enthusiast site). Retrieved 28 December 2007.
  11. ^ "Cleopatra's Needle (The Times, January 25)". The Capricornian. Rockhampton, Queensland. 30 March 1878. p. 15.
  12. ^ Chaney, Edward (2011). "Roma Britannica and the Cultural Memory of Egypt: Lord Arundel and the Obelisk of Domitian". In Marshall, D.; Wolfe, K.; Russell, S. (eds.). Roma Britannica: Art Patronage and Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-Century Rome. British School at Rome. pp. 147–70.
  13. ^ Canton, William (1904). The Story of the Bible Society. London: John Murray. p. 1.
  14. ^ Robinson, John J. (1989). Born in blood: the lost secrets of freemasonry. New York: M. Evans & Co. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-87131-602-8.
  15. ^ "A stereo side view of one of the sphinxes at the base of Cleopatra's Needle. The sphinxes were sculpted by G. J. Vulliamy in 1879. (CC97/01862) Archive Item - York And Son Collection". Historic England. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  16. ^ "Air raid damage in the United Kingdom during the First World War". Imperial War Museums. IWM (HO 68). Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  17. ^ a b "Cleopatras Needle And Sphinxes". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  18. ^ Heyman, Taylor. "Egyptian archaeologist 'ashamed' of London's treatment of Cleopatra's Needle". The National. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  19. ^ Moxon, Robert K. (1 April 1976). "Erasmus Wilson (1809–1884): The Dermatologist and the Obelisk". New England Journal of Medicine. 294 (14): 762–764. doi:10.1056/NEJM197604012941406. ISSN 0028-4793.
  20. ^ "Cleopatra's needle". London Remembers. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  21. ^ Karpazli, Ertan; Hawksworth, Veronique (11 May 2025). "The reason a 3,500 year old Egyptian monument ended up on the bank of the Thames". My London. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  22. ^ "Cleopatra's Needle Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
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