Lieutenant Thomas Waghorn

Updated 1 Aug 2010

The de Lesseps Statue

Created by the French sculptor Vital Dubray. The monument was destroyed during the 1956 Suez Crisis. [Sankey p125]

[Given the wrong rank of "General"]

On November 20, 1859 Ferdinand de Lesseps erected a bronze bust of Waghorn overlooking the mouth of the Suez Canal at the port of Tewfik. On the base, he inscribed these words of admiration:

"In homage to the memory of a generous though unfortunate man, who alone, without any help, by a long series of labours and heroic efforts, practically demonstrated and determined the adoption of the postal route through Egypt, and the communication between the East and the West of the world; and this was the originator and pioneer of the great Egyptian maritime commerce completed by the canal of the two seas."

The bust is now said to be at Suez.
His name is misspelled "WAGHAM" on some postcards

The bust is at the Office of the Canal Company at Terre Plaine

The Chatham Memorial Statue

Located: Chatham

Erected 1888, J. Moore, founder.

Limestone, ashlar and bronze; square battered plinth with cast panels showing a map of the route and inscribed

THOMAS F WAGHORN
LIEUTENANT R N, PIONEER AND FOUNDER OF THE OVERLAND ROUTE
BORN AT CHATHAM 1800
DIED JANUARY 7 1850.

On top, a standing figure in a coat holding a map points to his ‘Overland Route’.

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