"When the lions drink, London will sink."

One of the fully accessible lions.

If you walk along the Victoria Embankment you, like many others, will quite possibly have missed the large bronze lion heads that adorn the embankment walls, as they face the River Thames.

They were commissioned by Joseph Bazalgette to line the Albert and Victoria Embankments as part of the Victorian sewage system he had engineered. They were sculpted by Timothy Butler, between 1868–1870, who added mooring rings to each lion's mouth. 

Although this was more of a nod to the river, barges and boats would use them when mooring along the river. As the water levels changed and mooring points moved on, the lions eventually lost this role and were no more than redundant features on the river wall.  

Samuel Lowdell

 

Samuel Lowdell (1864-1887).

Samuel Lowdell, of Bow Common, was a bargeman that worked on the barge 'William and Mary', on the River Thames. During his short life Samuel had previously saved two other people from the dangerous waters of Old Man Thames.

On the night of February 25, 1887, Samuel was working on the barge, near Blackfriars, when a shout went up that someone had fallen into the River. A boy, named Buck, had fallen in and, without any hesitation, Samuel dived into the frigid, murky waters to save him.

Unfortunately, on this occasion, after saving the boy, Samuel became stuck beneath a smaller boat, which was moored next to his barge. Despite frantic efforts to free him, Samuel never resurfaced and was presumed drowned. Buck was pulled from the water by another boat.

Samuel's body would not be recovered from the River Thames until March 23, 1887.

On April 3, 1887, Samuel Lowdell was buried in a common grave at Manor Park Cemetery.

This plaque is situated on the wall of the G. F. Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, in Postman's Park. 

Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice