Description of the memorial

This memorial stands at the foot of Vinery Road in Bury St Edmunds. It dates from the early 20th century. It consists of a square drinking trough supporting a rectangular stone column in three stages with a flat top and moulded cornice. The top stage is flanked on two sides by cast bronze figures with flowing drapery: Courage, carrying a sword, and Sympathy, cradling a puppy. A cast bronze panel has a head in profile below the name Ouida. Louise de la Ramee, and under it ‘Born at Bury St Edmunds January 1 1839, died at Vareggio, Italy, January 25 1908. Her friends have erected this fountain in the place of her birth. Here may God’s creatures whom she loved assuage her tender soul as they drink. Curzon of Kedleston.’ On one side of the lowest stage the arms of Bury St Edmunds are carved, and on the opposite side the inscription: ‘This memorial was erected from funds subscribed by readers of the Daily Mirror and by friends and admirers in all parts of the world’.

Ouida

Marie Louise de la Ramée, the daughter of a French refugee, was born in 1839 in Union Terrace, Hospital Road. She wrote 45 romantic novels under the pseudonym Ouida. Although born in Bury St Edmunds, she had little affection for the town.  She was, however, a great dog lover.  Some of her possessions are at Moyse’s Hall Museum.