Editing Statue Square (section)

==History==
The square was built at the end of the nineteenth century on land reclaimed by the [[Praya Reclamation Scheme]]. The idea of a square of statues dedicated to royalty was conceived by Sir [[Paul Chater|Catchick Paul Chater]].<ref name="ReferenceA">[http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~sirpaulchater/genealogy/the_statues_of_statue_square_for_web.pdf The Statues of Statue Square], Hong Kong by Liz Chater, privately published July 2009</ref> Initially named "Royal Square", it gradually became known as "Statue Square", as it originally contained the [[Statue of Queen Victoria (Hong Kong)|statue of Queen Victoria]],<ref name="old queen"/><ref name="Wordie2733">{{cite book |title= Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island|last= Wordie|first= Jason|year= 2002|publisher= [[Hong Kong University Press]]|location= Hong Kong|isbn= 962-209-563-1|pages= 27–33}}</ref> in commemoration of the Queen's [[Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria|Golden Jubilee]] in 1887. The statue of the Queen should have been made not in bronze but in marble, an error that was not discovered until the bronze statue was almost completed.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="old queen">Wordie, Jason. [http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=27956&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=19990502&sear_year=1999 "The square that put an old queen in her place"], ''[[The Standard (Hong Kong)|The Standard]]'', 2 May 1999</ref> It was officially unveiled at the centre of the square on 28 May 1896, the day officially appointed for the celebration of the 77th birthday of the Queen.<ref>{{cite book |title= Voices from the past: Hong Kong, 1842–1918|last= Bard|first= Solomon|year= 2002|publisher= [[Hong Kong University Press]]|isbn= 978-962-209-574-8|page= 146}}</ref>

A [[statue of Sir Thomas Jackson, 1st Baronet]], the chief manager of [[the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation]] was unveiled in 1906.<ref>{{cite book |title= Voices from the past: Hong Kong, 1842–1918|last= Bard|first= Solomon|year= 2002|publisher= [[Hong Kong University Press]]|isbn= 978-962-209-574-8|page= 87}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Hong Kong art: culture and decolonization|last= Clarke|first= David James|year= 2001|publisher= [[Duke University Press]]|isbn= 978-0-8223-2920-6}}</ref> Apart from Jackson's statue and the two [[HSBC lions|bronze lions]] in front of the HSBC building, the rest of the statues were displaced to Japan to be melted by the [[Japanese occupation of Hong Kong|Japanese occupiers]] during [[World War II]].

[[The Cenotaph (Hong Kong)|The Cenotaph]], a replica of the [[The Cenotaph|Cenotaph]] in [[Whitehall]], London,<ref name="grade I">[http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/Brief_Information_on_proposed_Grade_I_Items.pdf Brief Information on Proposed Grade I Items, pp. 53–54] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013023413/http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/Brief_Information_on_proposed_Grade_I_Items.pdf |date=13 October 2012 }}</ref> was unveiled on 24 May 1923 ([[Commonwealth Day|Empire Day]]) by the Governor Sir [[Edward Stubbs|Reginald Edward Stubbs]]. It was built on the northeastern section of Statue Square, facing the [[Hong Kong Club Building]].<ref>[http://gwulo.com/node/9362 "1923 Unveiling the Cenotaph"], Gwulo: Old Hong Kong website</ref> This area is now only uncommonly referred to as part of Statue Square.

After the war, some of the statues were brought back to Hong Kong. Sir Thomas Jackson's now stands roughly in the middle of the square, facing the [[Court of Final Appeal Building]]. [[Statue of Queen Victoria (Hong Kong)|Queen Victoria's statue]] was placed in [[Victoria Park (Hong Kong)|Victoria Park]],<ref name="old queen"/> and the two [[HSBC lions]] returned to the front of the HSBC building. The bronze statue of George V, also removed by the Japanese, was lost and never replaced after the war.<ref name="old queen"/>

Since the 1980s, it has been a tradition for thousands of [[Filipinos in Hong Kong|Filipina]] [[Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong|domestic workers]] to congregate in and around Statue Square every Sunday, their usual rest day of the week. A parallel tradition has since been developed in [[Victoria Park (Hong Kong)|Victoria Park]] for [[Overseas Indonesian|Indonesian]] domestic helpers in Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite book |title= Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island|last= Wordie|first= Jason|year= 2002|publisher= [[Hong Kong University Press]]|location= Hong Kong|isbn= 962-209-563-1|page= 152}}</ref>