Directly opposite the statue, in the wall of St Margaret's Church, on the other side of the road, is a bust of Charles I.

[4][5] The question was raised once more in the House of Commons in 1856, with John George Phillimore saying "any man who could object to a statue of Cromwell must be imbued with bigotry and party spirit in the highest degree".

[12] Herbert Gladstone, First Commissioner of Works, approved the statue with the funding coming from an anonymous private donor.

In 1899 his successor Aretas Akers-Douglas confirmed the statue's proposed location as the sunken garden next to Westminster Hall.

[15][16] Restoration work took place in August 2008, removing dirt and a coat of black wax which had been previously applied to the bronzework.