Mahatma Gandhi had studied law at University College London nearby from 1888 to 1891, before being called to the bar at the Inner Temple.

The statue portrays Gandhi in his later years, sitting in a contemplative pose, with legs crossed in the lotus position and his left hand resting on his ankles, and his bare head with furrowed brows slightly lowered.

Nearby in Tavistock Square is the Conscientious Objectors Commemorative Stone installed in 1994, a cherry tree planted in 1967 in memory of the victims of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a bust of Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake erected in 1926.

A large bronze maquette of the statue was shown on the BBC television programme Antiques Roadshow in April 2013, valued by Philip Mould at £20,000.

The heirs of Fredda Brilliant auctioned this 94.5 cm (37.2 in) high maquette, signed and dated 1964, at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury as part of a sale of works from the artist's studio.