Patrick Comerford
Samuel Johnson stands out among the literary giants in the history of Lichfield, outpacing, say, Maria Edgeworth, her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Anna Seward, Elias Ashmole, Joseph Addison, Erasmus Darwin, David Garrick, Thomas Day, and even Philip Larkin, who spent some of his formative years with his father’s family in Lichfield.
That pride in Samuel Johnson is evident everywhere throughout Lichfield. The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum and Bookshop is on the corner of Market Street and Breadmarket Street and is always worth visiting. Facing it is the seated statue of Johnson by Richard Cockle Lucas (1800-1883).
Johnson is also commemorated with a bust and portrait in Lichfield Cathedral, as well as a statue at the south-east corner of the cathedral. Johnson’s Willow by Stowe Pool is now the fifth version of the tree. Dr Johnson is the name of a popular pub in Netherstowe. And, of course, there is the mosaic of Samuel Johnson on a street corner on Bird Street, by the controversial artist John Myatt.
One afternoon at the end of last week, I had time and the opportunity to have a good look too at the bust of Samuel Johnson that was restored in Lichfield six months ago to mark Johnson’s birthday and is in place once again above the door at No 10 Bird Street.
There had been a ‘Johnson’s Head’ looking down from that façade for almost a century and a half, from 1821 to 1969. The first bust of Samuel Johnson was installed on the site over 200 years ago, when it was placed there around 1821 by the bookseller and printer Thomas George Lomax (1783-1873). He was a former Mayor of Lichfield, founded the Johnson's Head Press in 1810 and published many important works on the history of Lichfield.
In time, the building became affectionately known as ‘The Johnson’s Head’. The first bust was replaced by a second one in December 1884 to commemorate the centenary of Johnson’s death.
However, the bust was removed in 1969, and was missing for almost half a century.
Peter Hone bought ‘The Johnson’s Head’ bust at an auction in 2017 and donated it to Lichfield City Council as a gift to the people of Lichfield by on the understanding that it was to be returned to its original location on the façade of No 10 Bird Street, between the George Hotel and the corner of Market Street.
The bust was unveiled six month ago, on Johnson’s birthday (18 September 2024), by the Mayor of Lichfield, Sam Schafer, and the Town Crier and Sword Bearer, Adrian Holmes. The attendance included the Deputy Mayor Claire Pinder-Smith, and the Sheriff of Lichfield, Cathy Wood, and there were speeches from the Johnson Society, which had championed the bust’s reinstatement and helped to launch the project.
However, the person who deserves singular praise for restoring the Johnson bust is local historian Jono Oates of Jono’s Tourism. His book A-Z of Lichfield, Places, People, History (Stroud: Amberley, 2019) covers the history of the city using the letters of the alphabet, from A to Z. He set up the Go Fund Me crowdfunding campaign for the repair and installation of the Johnson Head on Bird Street.
The project to repair, restore, and reinstate the bust dating from 1884 was helped by the generosity of local people, businesses, and the Go Fund Me crowdfunding campaign initiated by Jono Oates.
After Peter Hone bought the bust, it needed extensive restoration work and specialist installation. The work was carried out by Jones Carving, Messenger BCR, Brownhill Hayward Brown Chartered Architects, Hibberd Consulting Engineers of Lichfield, and Green Power Plant Hire. Each enterprise donated its time and costs to the project, which was supported by Lichfield City Council.
Jono Oates pointed out that the bust of Samuel was back home after an absence of 55 years. He raised over £3,000 to put it back in the place, and there were donations from the Johnson Society, Viking E-Cigs which has the shop premises on the corner of Bird Street and Market Street, the George Hotel next door and members of the general public.
John Winterton, who spoke at the unveiling on behalf of the Johnson Society, quoted Samuel Johnson as having said that ‘every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.’
Jono Oates has also campaigned successfully for the return of the bracket that was long missing from its rightful place around the corner, above No 3 Market Street, a listed item on a listed building.
He says on his Facebook page, ‘Retaining our history and heritage is very important to me, and our shop frontages are a key element of this. So, if you own, or work in, one of Lichfield’s many listed buildings and you’re thinking of removing, or altering, any part of your building … you better watch out, you better take care, because Jono will be watching you!’
As Lent begins, it would be interesting to see whether there is any enthusiasm for restoring yet another work of art missing from another façade in Lichfield.
The stucco depiction of the Last Supper was an important part of Quonians Lane for many years, along with the statue of Saint Chrisopher and the roundel depicting the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child.
The image of the Last Supper was fading and peeling before it was removed in recent years. But it was an important part of the heritage in the laneway that was once home to Bridgeman’s work, which closed in 2011, and I truly hope it has not been lost forever.
