Sir John Eardley-WilmotPrint Page

The monument commemorates Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania who was stood down after unsubstantiated rumours of improper behaviour. He died of an undiagnosed illness while trying to clear his name. His remains were exhumed and placed underneath the memorial. 

The colonial press discussed the episode of his dismissal and feeling for Wilmot gathered weight. The Colonial Times, of 9 February 1847, even declared him `murdered`. Citizens of Hobart subscribed to a Gothic mausoleum for Wilmot which was erected in 1850.

The late Sir Eardley Eardley Wilmot's remains were privately exhumed at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and finally deposited, in the presence of several members of the committee, in the vault of the new monument erected by public subscription in the cemetery of St. David's Church. The stone bears the following inscription : — ' Underneath are deposited the remains of Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, of Berkswell Hall, in the county of Warwick, Baronet, late Lieutenant Governor of the colony of Van Diemen's Land, for many years Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire, and Chairman of the Quarter Sessions in the county of Warwick— Born on the 21st February', 1783: died on the 3rd February, 1847. — This monument is erected as a mark of respect to his memory, by public subscription, in the year of our Lord MDCCCL.  
The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston), 13th March 1850

We alluded in our last number to the grateful and well-deserved tribute of respect paid to the late Sir Eardley-Wilmot, by the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, in the erection of a handsome monument to his memory in Hobart Town ; and also to the infamous charge founded on unauthenticated statements, which had led the head  of the Colonial Department-Mr. Gladstone, to depart from the usual course-, namely,that of re-appointing a dismissed Lieutenant Governor, without showing sufficient cause. Now, if ever there was a case demanding, nay, justifying a re-appointment, it was that of the late Sir Eardley ; for according to the published correspondence, it appears that Mr. Gladstone, in a private letter, admits that the dismissal, as well as the refusal to hold out any hope of future employment, were founded, not on the public acts of Sir Eardley, but on the rumours relating to his private life.
The Courier (Hobart), 11th June 1851

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