Female figure on drinking fountain (aka “Woman of Samaria”)
Guilford Place opposite Coram's Fields
London, September 2014
“The gift and installation of this fountain was very much in the tradition begun in London in the 1850s when the need for clean drinking water led to the founding of the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association. From its beginnings in 1859, the Association sponsored the installation of many public drinking fountains in Great Britain, many of which were quite similar to Mrs. Graham's fountain: they featured an image of the Woman of Samaria or Rebecca at the Well and offered drink to both people and horses. Often these drinking fountains were of granite but there are some notable examples in cast-iron. More on this subject can be found in Philip Davies' Troughs and Drinking Fountains, Fountains of Life published in London in 1989.” (Sarah Brandes Madry, Well Worth a Shindy, 2002)
Very interesting...
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