Sculpture with a secret

Isn't this a lovely memorial. That's what I thought, when I saw it in the entrance hall of the Royal College of Surgeons of England that houses the Hunterian Museum I was going to visit.

The Macloghlin Memorial has a weird secret, a sign says.

The memorial was commissioned by Eliza Macloghlin after her husband Edward had died in 1904. The box the couple hold in their hands was supposed to contain his ashes. Hers were to join his later.

When working on the memorial, Sir Alfred Gilbert and Eliza fell in love and they developed the obscure idea that the sculptor could find his resting place in the memorial too. So he provided a place for his ashes in the head of Eliza and closed it with a hinged lid.

Unfortunately, or should I rather say fortunately, the love affair didn't last long so that today, Mr. and Mrs. Macloghlin's ashes alone are united in their memorial.