IN response to Dave Garford’s letter in this week’s Standard re the Richard Young Memorial, in 1995 I wrote a booklet about Richard Young for the Wisbech Society (available at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum or through the Society).

The memorial to this 19th Century local shipowner and MP was inaugurated by the Lord Mayor of London on 31st October 1872. It was originally designed as a column with a drinking fountain but on 26th November 1873, The Wisbech Advertiser’ reported: ‘A new iron fence has been placed around this monument in the Recreation Ground. It is a very innocent affair and the sheep should be cautioned not to rub against it.’ Ten years later a storm blew the column over and it was constructed in its present state, without the fountain.

Further memorials to Young are his portrait in Wisbech Council Chamber and a memorial window in Walsoken Church, the parish in which he lived.

ROGER POWELL

Vice chairman Wisbech Society