Location
By the side of the road, at the South East corner of the Upper Parade Ground at HMS Excellent.
Memorial at the RNCF
THIS FIGUREHEAD IS FROM THE 2,132 TON FRIGATE
HMS CONSTANCE WHICH WAS LAUNCHED AT PEMBROKE DOCK IN MARCH 1846
AND BROKEN-UP IN 1876
THE FIGUREHEAD IS A PORTAIT IN WOOD OF MISS GRAHAM
THE DAUGHTER OF SIR JAMES GRAHAM
FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY
HMS CONSTANCE SERVED ONLY ONE COMMISSION AS A
PURE SAILING SHIP, AND WAS CONVERTED TO STEAM
PROPULSION IN THE 1860's
FURTHER INFORMATION
We have been contacted by Rich Muir from Australia who has a photograph from the Royal Naval Cordite Factory at Holton Heath, Dorset (see left). It was probably taken in the 1940s and shows a figurehead which the photo title describes as 'Constance RNCF'. It shows a figurehead which whilst not being identical to the version at HMS Excellent has clearly used the same model for it's design. The 'Constance' figurehead was apparently chosen as she was the first RN ship to use cordite in it's guns. The figurehead itself, to quote M.R. Bowditch "Ultimately succumbed to the effects of wind and weather in the early fifties when she was ceremonially cremated on the cordite burning ground. She was replaced in about 1952 by the HMS 'Rattlesnake' figurehead and this remains to this day."
See the Wikipedia entry for the RNCF.
