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MICHAEL THOMAS BASS - THE TRAFFIC CONE MAN

In one of a projected series looking at some of Derbyshire's many statues, writer and local historian Peter Seddon acquaints himself with Michael Thomas Bass.

The statue of Michael Thomas Bass M.P. in Derby's Museum Square, on this occasion on a quiet day

Some of the subjects featured in our Famous Residents category have long-since passed away. Others are very much alive, celebrities in their own lifetime, perhaps yet to achieve even more, or fade quietly to obscurity.

But there is a third category of 'Famous Residents' neither truly dead nor even really alive - for surely a statue acquires its very own persona in the place where fate decrees that it should reside.

One such inanimate celebrity is the statue to MICHAEL THOMAS BASS M. P. (1799-1884) which stands in Museum Square, off the Wardwick, Derby, adjacent the library.

This splendid work by the sculptor Sir Joseph Boehm was completed in 1885, the year after Bass's death, and was originally sited in Derby Market Place. It was relocated to Museum Square in 1925 due to the widening of the Market Place and Cornmarket.

Yet despite its highly-visible position, it is arguably one of Derby's least appreciated statues. Many who pass it undoubtedly see the subject as little more than 'some old geezer on a pedestal', and even the city's more erudite crowd are not entirely familiar with the man in question. Indeed a random straw poll once revealed that quite a few of Derby's citizens believed the statue to depict either Charles Rolls or Sir Henry Royce!

Others are even less appreciative, for this pillar of Victorian society may sometimes be seen adorned in festoonery not entirely of his own choosing. A traffic cone upon the head is a staple favourite, as are a variety of scarves and wraps. If memory serves correctly, he on one occasion sported a Manchester United shirt as a bandana. Although perhaps I am mistaken - it could have been Chelsea.

And what irony attaches itself to such disrespectful bufoonery, fuelled as it is by alcohol, for it was under the able stewardship of Michael Thomas Bass that the family brewing firm of Bass and Co. grew to become one of the most powerful purveyors of alcoholic beverages in the world.

So who was this man?

Michael Thomas Bass was born in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on 6 July 1799. He was the son of his namesake father - Michael Thomas Bass senior - and the grandson of William Bass, who had founded the celebrated Bass Brewing Co. in 1777.

Michael Thomas Bass junior took control of the company in 1827 and was the driving force behind its transformation into a worldwide brand leader.

But he was much more than a brewing magnate. From 1848 to 1883 Bass was MP for Derby, earning a reputation as one of the most regular attendees in the House of Commons. Politically a Liberal, he often campaigned with genuine sincerity for the betterment of the sort of 'common man' who drank his famous ales with such enthusiasm.

He lived at the huge country pile of Rangemore Hall, near Tatenhill, Burton-on-Trent, and although never residing in Derby itself, he was a great benefactor of the town he so ably represented in Parliament.

His greatest legacy was in financing the 'Free Library' in The Wardwick, making books available to all Derby's townsfolk without charge for the very first time. The building was opened on 28 June 1879 by Mr. Bass himself, then aged 80, and still serves the city today. A brass plaque inside the entrance lobby marks the opening.

Michael Thomas Bass also gave the town a recreation ground ('Bass's rec'), opened in 1873 in conjunction with the long-defunct open-air swimming baths. Nor did his benevolence end there, for he was also a leading benefactor of the Children's Hospital in North Street, now demolished. Indeed there were few charitable causes in Derby to which Bass did not generously contribute, and this was officially recognised as early as 1855, when Bass Street off Ashbourne Road was named in his honour.

Michael Thomas Bass died aged 84 at Rangemore on 29 April 1884. He was respected and admired not only by his political and business peers, but by the general public alike.

Michael Thomas Bass looks down - perhaps even literally - on the city of Derby to which he gave so much benevolent aid in the 19th century

Is he respected and admired today? Consider the evidence: A jaunty reveller scales the plinth to add some gaiety to Bass's sober Victorian wardrobe. Squabbling pigeons feed on discarded kebabs littering the square. Chicken Tikka Masala is regurgitated at his feet on most Saturday nights, rice included. And as for the sundry 'characters' who have traditionally gathered in Bass's shadow to take refreshment, their tipple is generally something stronger than 'Good Honest Ales'.

It is almost as if the sculptor knew it would come to this, for Bass appears to look down from his lofty height not with undisguised pride, but with a yearning sadness. On close scrutiny, his expression seems to convey dismay, disgust and slightly pitying censure in equal measure, and surely articulates an unspoken thought: 'Is this the gratitude for what I did for Derby all those years ago?'.

                                       1799 - 1884  -  MICHAEL THOMAS BASS M. P.  - R. I. P.       

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County:  Derbyshire