nelsons column

[heather.g]

need info on the person who built nelsons column

[Sludge]

Sir Morton Peto, the constructor of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, was a remarkable example of the nineteenth-century self-made man. Born in 1809, he was apprenticed at fourteen years of age to his uncle, a builder in the city of London. At first he spent many years in the carpentry shop and then several more in the brickyard, where he learned to lay 800 bricks a day (modern bricklayers are unable to lay more than 300). When he was twenty-one his uncle died and bequeathed him half of his building business. This Sir Morton developed and became a leading building contractor, the largest employer of labour in the world. He won many notable contracts including the contract to build Nelson's Column. The Column was designed by William Railton in the Corinthian Order and is of Portland Stone. Nelson was sculpted by E.H. Bailey, RA. The Lions at the base are by Sir Edward Landseer. Construction of the Column commenced in 1840 and was completed in 1866. Trafalgar Square was designed by Charles Barry

[Amz260104]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morton_Peto