John Batchelor (10 April 1820 – 29 May 1883)[1][2] was a prominent Welsh Victorian businessman and politician, who earned the epithet "Friend of Freedom".

[3] Although born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Batchelor became a prominent Cardiff figure, having moved there in his early twenties.

The Butes supported the Tory party and many believed that their conspiring led to the collapse of Batchelor's shipbuilding business.

[4] The statue, created by the sculptor James Milo Griffith,[5] was finally unveiled on 16 October 1886 and stands in The Hayes, Cardiff.

A Conservative solicitor, T. H. Ensor, wrote a scathing piece in the Western Mail, suggesting the words "Friend of Freedom" be replaced with "traitor to the Crown... hater of the clergy... sincerely mourned by unpaid creditors".