Victoria Station Clocks

This letter to the editor appeared in The Morning Post, September 11, 1890.  Marston St. Lawrence, presumably the home of Mr. One Who Would Like to be Punctual, is a village a couple of hours northwest of London.  It would seem from his letter that he was frequently in London–possibly without his watch unless he was just interested in the welfare of the absent-minded or watchless fellow travelers.  In only a couple of years, his request would be granted.The Little Ben Clock was designed as a cast iron miniature of the Big Ben clock tower, erected by the Gillett and Johnston company of clockmakers and bellmakers.  It is located at the Victoria Street and Vauxhall Bridge road intersection near the station.  It was removed in 1964 and restored and re-erected in 1981.  It was removed again in 2012 to upgrade the Victoria Station and reinstalled in 2016.

Victoria Station was initially two separate railway lines with competing stations, and apparently according to the Encylopaedia Brittannica and Network Rail History of London Victoria Station not much money had been spent on the stations in the beginning.  The two stations combined into one unit when the two railways merged.  In 1892, discussion began regarding enlarging the Victoria Station, but it was not until 1899 that a proposal was brought to the council.  The London Brighton and South Coast Railway bought the Grosvenor Hotel, next door  and extended it to form the new frontage of the enlarged station.Sir Charles Morgan designed and built the red brick station, adorned with a large clock set in a scroll, “giving it an elaborate Edwardian Baroque style to complement the Grosvenor Hotel” (Network Rail History of London Victoria Station).  The new station opened in 1908.