Lord Botetourt (statues)

Lord Botetourt is the name for a pair of statues on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, depicting colonial Virginia governor Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt. The first of these statues was executed in 1772 by English sculptor Richard Hayward and became the first sculpture in the Colony of Virginia. It is the oldest surviving public statue in North America. A Baroque sculpture cut from marble, it was ordered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1771 and installed in 1773 in the loggia of the Capitol in Williamsburg. The statue's plinth was one of the earliest major neoclassical works in British America. After a period of vandalism and neglect following the removal of Virginia's capital to Richmond, the statue was purchased by the College of William & Mary in 1801 and transferred to the College Yard on its campus.

During the 19th century, the statue suffered further damage due to vandalism and was briefly stored in Eastern State Hospital during the American Civil War. After being returned to the Old College Yard, the statue remained there until 1958, when it was moved to storage due to the damage it had sustained. In 1966, it was installed in a display inside the college's Earl Gregg Swem Library. A bronze replica by college alumnus Gordon Kray was installed on the site as part of the college's tercentenary celebrations in 1993. The statues, sometimes referred to as Lord Bot, are associated with several traditions.