As well as being a monument to the queen, plaques on the statue commemorate the settlement of the Canterbury Province and local soldiers that fought in the South African wars.

[7] Patriotism was heightened during the Second Boer War, but it was the 50th jubilee of Christchurch that resulted in the Market Place to be renamed to Victoria Square as first suggested by Irving.

The compromise proposal of the mayor, William Reece, was to erect an obelisk to commemorate a combination of the queen, the Canterbury pioneers, and local soldiers who had died in the Boer War.

The committee had, by the end of August 1900, agreed on a statue of Queen Victoria, with plaques commemorating fallen troopers and the Canterbury Pilgrims.

With those events out of the way, the committee decided in early January 1901 to order a standing statue and a granite pedestal, with bronze bas-reliefs to be fitted later as funds allowed.

Queen Victoria died 12 days after that decision had been made, and Wigram implored the committee to proceed with urgency, as he expected there to be a high demand for statues from throughout the Commonwealth.

Soon after, council workers started to deposit soil and rubble in that corner of the square as to raise its elevation, giving the statue a more prominent placement.

Edward's son Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, and his wife, Princess Mary, were assigned to undertake the voyage instead.

I should say to you, teach your children to look up to it as a memorial of her, whose life was a noble example of devotion to duty, of tender sympathy with, and loving regard for, the wellbeing of her people, to us all a priceless heritage.

[19] As Wigram had expected, high demand for similar statues had created a logjam at the Burton foundry, but the benefit was that the list of dead troopers could be further considered.