Joseph Sturge is shown as if teaching, his right hand resting on a Bible. Sturge was born into a wealthy Quaker family in Gloucester and moved to Birmingham in 1822, setting up as a corn merchant. He was elected an alderman in Birmingham's first Borough Council of 1838. It was his philanthropic work towards the abolition of the slave trade, his support of temperance and Sunday schools, and the establishment and funding of the Midlands' first reformatory which earned him public commemoration and the epithet 'Apostle of Peace'. The statue is set upon its original base, a rare example in Birmingham. The figure groups surrounding the statue consist of Charity, portrayed as a woman suckling; a black child (a reference to the struggle against slavery); and Peace, shown holding an olive branch, with a lamb symbolic of innocence. The basin inscribed with the word 'Temperance' is a symbol of the act of charity, whilst the fountain dispenses a pure and harmless drink. John Thomas, the sculptor, died before completing the sculpture.