What is it?
A life-size bronze of Thomas Attwood, founder of the Birmingham Political Union, sitting informally on the steps of Chamberlain Square beside an empty crate and a spill of bronze pages.
History
A man of the people
Birmingham already had one statue of Thomas Attwood, a marble figure of 1859 on a tall pedestal. By the 1990s it was standing in Sparkbrook, a long way from the civic centre. In 1993 a new one arrived in Chamberlain Square, the heart of the city where Attwood had campaigned. It was the work of the sculptor Sioban Coppinger and the letterer Fiona Peever, and according to the Chartist Ancestors website it was presented to the city by Attwood’s great-great-granddaughter, Priscilla Mitchell.
The makers deliberately refused him a plinth. The RBSA’s guide to the city’s sculpture says they wanted to show “a man of the people”. So Attwood has stepped down. Behind him is a crate, the soapbox a speaker would stand on. Around it lie sheaves of paper in bronze, lettered with his political demands, and the words Reform, The Vote and Prosperity are stencilled into the steps. The figure leans back on the steps leading down towards the Town Hall.
Away and back
When the Paradise redevelopment began, Chamberlain Square was closed and dug up. Paradise Birmingham says Attwood was last seen on the steps in late 2015 and then spent nearly five years in store at the Birmingham Museums Trust Collections Centre in Nechells. He came back on 1 July 2020, and a fortnight later he could be seen in place behind a temporary fence. When the rebuilt square reopened on 29 March 2021, the developers said he had been “fully restored and returned to his position sitting on the steps close to the Town Hall”.
What happened here?
Unveiled on the steps of Chamberlain Square in 1993, removed to store in late 2015 for the Paradise works, and returned to the steps on 1 July 2020.
Why it mattered
It honours the banker who founded the Birmingham Political Union in 1830, led the town’s campaign for the Reform Act of 1832 and became one of its first two MPs. Placed on the steps rather than on a pedestal, it is the city’s most approachable statue.
The same spot, then and now
1888–1913
Today
Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). Today: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Today
What survives
The 1993 bronze figure, crate and pages, restored in 2020.
Today
Attwood sits on the steps at the Town Hall end of Chamberlain Square, close to the Chamberlain Memorial fountain and the restored statues of Watt and Priestley in Ratcliff Passage.
Then and now
Then · 14 March 2015
Now · 13 July 2020
Key dates
- 1993 — A bronze Attwood for Chamberlain SquareSioban Coppinger and Fiona Peever’s bronze of Thomas Attwood, sitting on the steps beside his empty soapbox, is installed in Chamberlain Square.
- 1 July 2020 — Attwood returns to Chamberlain SquareAfter nearly five years in store during the Paradise redevelopment, the bronze Thomas Attwood is returned to the steps of Chamberlain Square.
Sources and further reading
The sculptor’s name is spelled Sioban by Paradise Birmingham, the RBSA and OpenStreetMap; other spellings appear. The title “Birmingham Man” and the donor’s name come from chartistancestors.co.uk and OpenStreetMap, not from an official record. The statue is not on the National Heritage List. Its continued presence after the Ratcliff Passage works of July 2026 rests on an OpenStreetMap survey check dated 19 August 2026.
- Thomas Attwood is heading back to Paradise — Paradise Birmingham, 2020
- Chamberlain Square re-opens at Paradise — Paradise Birmingham, 2021
- Birmingham City Centre Sculpture Trail — Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
- Thomas Attwood 1783–1856 — Chartist Ancestors
- OpenStreetMap node 616877492 (The Birmingham Man: Thomas Attwood) — OpenStreetMap contributors
- Thomas Attwood (economist) — Wikipedia
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