Upon the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the British Indian Government came up with a proposal to build a monument in each of the state capitals commemorating her life and successful reign. Lord Curzon, who had a long and close contact with the British royal family, was instrumental in constructing an impressive and well embellished monument worth her name and regal status called Victoria Memorial in Calcutta made of high quality marble. Even today, it remains the most celebrated and inspiring tourist spot and landmark in Kolkata. The memorial came up through public subscriptions and donations from the Indian Maharajahs and Nawabs. A number of memorials for Queen Victoria were built in many places in India and the one at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, is of particular interest to historians.
Hamo Thornycroft’s seated statue of Queen Victoria, in the ornate Chhatri within a fine canopy was removed to the Lucknow State Museum after India’s independence The base of the pedestal that once carried the statue of seated Victoria is now a memorial to zBegum of Awadh with a plaque set on it, and the park (earlier called Victoria Park) has been renamed Hazrat Mahal Begum Park.
There was a proposal by the UP government to have a statue of Begum Hazrat Mahal set on the existing pedestal, however, this plan was given up midway as many conservative Muslims were against erecting a statue of a Muslim woman in a public place. The city of Allahabad also had a statue of Queen Victoria and both the monuments have canopies within which were placed statues of the queen.
To erect Victoria memorials in Awadh (now part of Uttar Pradesh), the British officials formed committees to collect funds. Part of the funds collected went to Calcutta for the memorial fund set up by Lord Curzon. The rest of the subscription was retained to have two memorials in memory of Queen Victoria built in the kingdom of Awadh - at Lucknow and Allahabad.
Hamo Thornycroft beautifully designed the seated statue of Queen Victoria, Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob (1841-1917), colonial engineer and military officer, designed the monument, including the Chhatri. The work that began in September 1904 was completed on April 2, 1905. The total cost of the project was about Rs150,000. Though Jacob was fond of architecture of neo-classical type, a blend of Gothic Revival and Indo-Islamic style, the one here exhibits more of Indian style, but eclectically it is different. It is confirmed by the way the whole structure is placed on a raised plinth and the presence of four chhatris on the four corners of that plinth. There are four more chhatris atop the monument, around the dome, resembling a mosque’s minarets. The dome itself is purely Islamic, topped by an inverted lotus bud finial. The work was done by Messrs. Adam & Co. of Agra, under the supervision of colonial engineers from the PWD.
In 1957, on the occasion of the centenary of the Sepoy mutiny, the state government renamed Victoria Park as Begum Hazrat Mahal Park to commemorate the courageous role of the wife of deposed Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in the first uprising against colonial rule. It was at this time that a pillar with plaques mentioning Begum Hazrat Mahal was placed inside the canopy. The Nawab of Awadh was a kind-hearted, cultured gentleman and a patron of arts.