Matthew Flinders and Trim his close companion

Walking from Euston Tube to the Friends Meeting House on Euston Road I came across this wonderful sculpture.
 
It is of scientist and navigator Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), who is credited with popularising the name Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the ‘Great Southern Land’ and map South Australia’s coastline. The statue, by sculptor Mark Richards, shows Flinders leaning over a chart of Australia, dividers in hand, accompanied by Trim, “his close companion”.
 
Reading up on this, his name is not that well known in the UK, but is well known down under, where apparently there are the Flinders Ranges, Flinders Chase National Park, Flinders Street and Flinders University who all bear his name. Apparently in Australia, the only person to have more statues erected than Flinders is Queen Victoria!  


The statue at Euston is the second of Flinders and Trim to be erected in the UK, with the other unveiled in 2006 in Flinders’ birthplace in Donington, Lincolnshire.
 
Moving on to the important details, Trim the cat was born in 1799 on the Southern Indian Ocean and accompanied Flinders around Australia and to Mauritius. He was described as "the best and most illustrious of his Race, the most affectionate of friends, faithful of servants, and best of creatures". Trim is a much-loved cat even now, with a dedicated Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_(cat)