The fountain in Guilford Place

SLAKING the thirst of Victorians while remembering a much-loved father was the aim of two King’s Cross sisters in 1870.

The Whiting siblings wanted a public display of their love for their father – and decided to pay £200 to commission a drinking fountain in Guilford Place, Coram’s Fields.

Now, 154 years since the waters first flowed, a restoration project is set to get the fountain on stream once more.

The fountain stopped working more than a decade ago – and now  charity the Heritage of London Trust are working to get it back into use.

With 80 per cent of waste found in the Thames being single-use plastic and temperatures ever rising, the need for new public drinking fountains has been dubbed urgent by the GLA.

And one answer is to restore Victorian fountains that are historic landmarks but often in a state of disrepair.

The fountain was designed by Henry Darbishire, an architect best known for his work designing Holly Village in Highgate for the philanthropist Angela Burdett Coutts.

It fitted in with his world view – he used his talents for the public good, and worked for the ground-breaking social housing provider, the Peabody Trust.

Mr Darbishire chose to sculpt in marble a figure based on the woman of Samaria – a biblical story of a woman who met Jesus and was embraced by him, despite her being a social outcast due to having five husbands.

This week, an application to repair the historic memorial was lodged at the Town Hall.
Currently, the water supply has not been connected and the restoration process is being finalised. Work includes cleaning, refitting the plumbing and repairing granite.

The work comes as a long-running mystery over the fountain’s origins has finally been solved.

A plaque said it was commissioned by “the Misses Whiting to commemorate their mother,” and was known as the  “Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Public Conveniences and Frances Whiting Memorial Fountain Guilford Place, WC1.”

But researchers looking to discover more about Francis Whiting  failed to find any reference to her – but there was a Mr Francis Whiting who lived in nearby Mecklenburgh Square, and whose daughters the fountain was originally turned on to memorialise.