In the mid-to-late nineteenth century, several notable residents moved into Gateacre, including Sir Andrew Barclay Walker (the man who built the Walker Art Gallery as a gift to Liverpool) and John Hays Wilson (who was the Chairman of the Liverpool Council Water Committee). In 1877, Walker provided land adjacent to Halewood Road for the construction of a new Church of England school, with the school's previous premises on Grange Lane being converted into a reading room (The building is today home to the Gateacre Institute). Following Wilson's death in 1881, the people of Gateacre erected the Wilson Memorial Fountain in honour of his work for Liverpool. The monument was located in a prominent position on the village green, which was at the time owned by Walker. In 1887, four years after the monument was erected, Walker decided to give the green to the local council, in commemoration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. He commissioned his nephew Count Gleichen to sculpt a bronze bust of the Queen to be placed upon it.