Samuel Ryder will be immortalised in bronze after the district council gave the go-ahead to put up a statue in his honour in the city centre.

At a planning referrals committee last Thursday councillors unanimously approved the proposal for a statue of the Ryder Cup founder to take pride of place between Nationwide and Ladbrokes in St Peter’s Street.

An application had previously been submitted by the Samuel Ryder Foundation for it to stand outside the Town Hall but following opposition from market traders this was amended.

Bob Reitemeier, one of the foundation’s trustees said: “This statue will enrich civic pride in one of our greatest residents and will establish a legacy benefitting the values the man stood for.

“The city needs to build upon his desire to help others thus keeping his vision alive and celebrating the wonderful history of St Albans.”

Samuel Ryder was a seed merchant who was responsible for selling one penny packets of seeds through the post, at first from his St Albans home and then from the Ryder Seed Hall in Holywell Hill, which is now Café Rouge.

He was Mayor of St Albans in 1905 and a councillor for 13 years, and is most remembered today for his donation of golf’s Ryder Cup, first contested between the USA and Great Britain in 1927.