FEW PEOPLE in public life today will deserve or get such a grand memorial as that erected to John Lely Ostler in the market place at Bourne 150 years ago.

The unveiling of a magnificent drinking fountain financed by public subscription was one of the biggest public occasions ever observed and took place during the autumn of 1860, the only known example of a freestanding memorial erected in this town outside the churchyard.

There was much public opposition to it being built on the grounds that it was too large and that its location in the market place, now the town centre, would frighten the horses but all objections were overruled and the project went ahead at a cost of £120, a sum that was quickly raised by voluntary donations, an indication of the high esteem in which he was held.

Ostler was born in 1811 of a distinguished family from Grantham who claimed as an ancestor Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), the Dutch artist who came to England as a young man and became a painter of royalty, and on leaving school joined his father's law firm. Much of his public life was devoted to his home town but he moved to Cawthorpe House with his wife Laura (1785-1864) only a short time before his death and by 1859 he had became one of the biggest land and property owners in Bourne. He was also a dedicated Christian and while serving as a director and a principal shareholder of the Bourne and Essendine Railway Company he made himself responsible for looking after the moral welfare of the labourers employed on building the line by arranging for preachers to speak to them at meetings in the town and at the camps where they lived.

He died in on Monday 27th June 1859 by which time he was a very rich man and his many holdings included those premises along the banks of the Bourne Eau in Eastgate, the old coal yard, granary and sheds which he converted into a fellmonger’s yard, dealing in skins and hides and in subsequent years to be taken over by Thomas Mays. His business interests in Bourne also included the Maltings in West Street, now occupied by the printing company Warners Midlands plc, as well as land holdings at Dyke and Cawthorpe.

The direct connection of John Ostler with Bourne was therefore a very short one yet during this period he achieved a reputation for his charitable acts and philanthropy, the welfare of the poor, the building of a school at Dyke in 1854, the donation of land for the Eastgate school in 1856 and the provision of a site for the Bourne Waterworks Company, a connection which was to be pivotal in the choice of a drinking fountain as his memorial.

The money to pay for the memorial was raised within seven months of his death and Messrs John and James Sneath of Baston, builders and bricklayers, chosen to build it to a design drawn up by the ecclesiastical architect Edward Browning who had been responsible for the cemetery chapel in 1855, while the stone was carved by Mr William Hilliam of Stamford who had earned himself a reputation for his fine work in the district. The unveiling ceremony took place in October 1860 when a local newspaper reported: “It perpetuates the memory of the late John Lely Ostler Esq., a gentleman deservedly esteemed for his extensive benevolence whilst resident in this locality.”

The fountain was 18ft 6in high and stood on three steps of Yorkshire stone while the main monument was built from Portland stone with shafts of red polished Aberdeen granite and a continuous stream of water falling into an ornamental basin provided free of charge by the Bourne Waterworks Company, the surplus draining away through an interior pipe, and the supply so arranged that it could not be stolen for domestic purposes as few homes of the period had running water and usually relied on communal outside taps.

This marvellous example of Victorian Gothic stood in the market place for 100 years, providing as was intended, water for thirsty wayfarers and refreshment for townspeople, especially on market days when shoppers, farmers and stallholders would gather here to gossip and strike their bargains, although it soon became apparent that its days were numbered. By the mid-20th century, the horse had given way to the motor car and the memorial was in danger of impeding traffic flows. It was struck several times by passing vehicles and the stone steps on which it originally rested had been removed. Bourne Urban District Council decided that it had to go in the interests of road safety and in 1960 workmen dismantled the fountain stone by stone and moved it to its present location in the South Road cemetery.

The memorial fountain was largely neglected after it was moved and after suffering the effects of wind and weather was soon badly in need of restoration and in July 2007, it was listed Grade II by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of English Heritage after an inspection revealed that it was at risk. The town council subsequently initiated a £9,000 restoration scheme which has just been completed and so the memorial to one of our most illustrious benefactors has been preserved for the future.

The stonework has been excellently restored and the inscription around the four sides below the central basin can now be read: "This fountain was erected by subscription for the use of the public in memory of John Lely Ostler, Esq, late of Cawthorpe House, 1860." The memorial has also been enclosed with iron railings which has caused misgivings among conservationists that they are intrusive and were not included in the original design but the council insists that they will “protect it from further damage” although there is no evidence that the memorial has ever been a target for vandals.

Perhaps the railings would have been better installed around Ostler’s grave which is nearby, neglected and covered in moss, the original ones that surrounded his handsome tombstone having disappeared, probably removed during the Second World War when ornamental metal such as this was collected in a government drive to provide the raw materials for planes or munitions, or even stolen for their scrap value.