Manchester Cenotaph

Background

During the First World War, only London provided more recruits to the British Army than Manchester. The Manchester Regiment and the Lancashire Fusiliers which largely recruited from the city and towns to the north were swollen by pals battalions drawn from local employers, social groups, and neighbourhoods. By the end of the war, more than 13,000 men of the Manchester Regiment, including more than 4,000 from the pals battalions and 13,600 Lancashire Fusiliers had been killed. An estimated 22,000 Mancunians were killed and 55,000 wounded.

In the aftermath of the war and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain. Virtually all towns and cities erected some form of memorial to commemorate their fallen. Amongst the most prominent designers of war memorials was Sir Edwin Lutyens, described by Historic England as "the leading English architect of his generation". Before the war, he had established his reputation designing country houses for wealthy patrons but the war had a profound effect on him and from 1917 onwards he dedicated much of his time to memorialising the casualties. Among his most famous famous memorials were the cenotaph on Whitehall in London and the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme (the largest British war memorial in the world), which he designed for the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC). He also designed the Stone of Remembrance which appears in all large IWGC cemeteries and in several of his civic memorials, including Manchester's. The Whitehall cenotaph became the focus for national Remembrance Sunday commemorations and one of the most influential designs for war memorials in Britain. Manchester's cenotaph, a close replica, is one of seven by Lutyens in England based on the original.

Commissioning

Many towns and cities began erecting war memorials shortly after the armistice, but Manchester did not get underway until 1922. As a result of pressure from the local branch of the Royal British Legion, the city council formed a war memorial committee, chaired by the mayor, to explore options for commemorations. The committee raised £10,000 in subscriptions and donors were told local firms would benefit from its construction as unemployment was increasing in the city.

Three potential sites were considered for the memorial: Albert Square, Piccadilly Gardens and St Peter's Square. Albert Square, supported by the Royal British Legion in a letter to the city council dated 11 April 1923, emerged as the favourite. The site proved controversial after the artistic community led the objections to the relocation of the statues in Albert Square, which would have been required to create space for the war memorial. King George V gave his consent for the relocation of the memorial to his German grandfather, Prince Albert, but the objections persisted and the city architect estimated the cost of relocating the statues at £8,400. The city council voted to reject Albert Square and identified Piccadilly Gardens as its second choice, but other plans for this area would have delayed the war memorial project further and the council settled on St Peter's Square.

St Peter's Square already housed a memorial cross by Temple Moore marking the location of the former St Peter's Church which was demolished in 1907. The church trustees and the Bishop of Manchester had consented to relocating the cross to accommodate the war memorial, but the trustees reversed their decision by the time building work commenced. Lutyens agreed for the war memorial to be built with the cross in situ. Negotiations about relocating it recommenced after the unveiling ceremony but the trustees remained reluctant and after further discussion Lutyens said he did not object to it remaining. According to Tim Skelton, author of Lutyens and the Great War (2008), "the heated discussions resulted in a compromise that clearly show[ed]" as Moore's cross "severely impinged on the setting of the memorial and appear[ed] to be an integral part of it".

Further controversy surrounded the choice of architect. The Manchester Art Federation and other bodies petitioned the city council to hold an open competition, to which the council agreed. The war memorial committee appointed Percy Worthington, a local architect, as the assessor for the competition but attracted severe criticism in the local press when it reserved the right to veto Worthington's choice. After further debate, the council abandoned the competition and convened a subcommittee, which approached Lutyens.

Design

Manchester's war memorial consists of a cenotaph, flanked by twin obelisks, and a Stone of Remembrance, all in Portland stone on a raised coved platform. The memorial covers an area of approximately 93 feet (28 metres) by 53 feet (16 metres). The cenotaph is 42 feet (13 metres) high made from 160 long tons (160,000 kilograms) of Portland stone. The pylon is surmounted by a sculpture of an unknown soldier, partially covered by his greatcoat, lying on a catafalque. The pylon rises from the base in diminishing stages, narrowing as it rises. Below the catafalque, on the front and rear, are moulded swords and imperial crowns, and to the sides are Manchester's coat of arms surrounded by laurel wreaths. The cenotaph bears inscriptions below the coat of arms: "TO THE HONOURED MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY" (on the north-west side) and "O LORD GOD OF OUR FATHERS KEEP THIS/FOREVER IN THE IMAGINATION OF THE THOUGHTS OF THE HEART OF THY PEOPLE" (on the south east). Identical, 23-foot (7-metre) high obelisks stand either side of the cenotaph and the Stone of Remembrance is set in front. The stone, a monolith in the shape of an altar, is 12 feet (3.7 metres) long and curved so slightly as to barely be visible (entasis); it is devoid of decoration and inscribed, "THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE".

Lutyens' design, with flanking objects, recumbent figure and a Stone of Remembrance set in front of the cenotaph is reminiscent of his earlier cenotaph in Southampton. While many First World War memorials feature sculpture or overt religious symbolism, Manchester's, like many of his memorials, uses abstract and ecumenical shapes inspired by classical architecture. Its effigy of the unknown soldier raised high on the pylon rather than at eye level is reminiscent of ancient tower tombs, making it less striking.

The Pevsner City Guide to Manchester described the cenotaph as one of the few impressive war memorials in Manchester but lamented its original cluttered setting and the proximity of overhead wires. The cenotaph, obelisks, and stone are features typical of Lutyens' war memorial work, although Manchester's is one of only two to feature flanking obelisks, the other being Northampton War Memorial, where the obelisks flank a stone.

History

Despite the war memorial committee's promise that local labour would be used, the monument was built by Nine Elms Stone Masonry Works of London at a cost of £6,940 (1924). It was unveiled on 12 July 1924 by Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, whose family had been involved in politics for generations, and who held various public offices during the war including Secretary of State for War. He was assisted by Mrs Bingle, a local woman from Rylance Street, Ancoats, who lost three sons in the war. Two years earlier, Lord Derby had unveiled Lutyens' Rochdale Cenotaph,10 miles (16 km) away. The memorial was unveiled in front of a large crowd and guard of honour from the Manchester Regiment and ex-servicemen. The service was led by the Dean of Manchester, the Very Reverend Gough McCormick, and the Baptist minister, Reverend John Edward Roberts, of Union Chapel on Oxford Road. Mrs Bingle represented "the mothers and wives of Manchester who had made sacrifices greater than life itself". She wore the eight medals won by her dead sons: Sergeant Ernest Bingle aged 34 and Gunner Charles Bingle aged 27 of the Royal Garrison Artillery, and Corporal Nelson Bingle aged 21 of the Royal Engineers. All three were killed in 1918—Nelson in March and Ernest and Charles in May. Several dignitaries gave speeches including the lord mayor and Lord Derby, who remarked that the memorial was not only a tribute to the dead but a warning as to the cost of war. After the unveiling, a procession of women laid flowers around the base of the memorial. The remainder of the £10,000 raised by the war memorial committee was used to provide hospital beds for ex-servicemen and their families.

A marble plaque, added nearby and dedicated to "Our Italian Comrades 1915–1918" was removed during the Second World War but later returned. In 1949 the dates for World War II were added and the surrounding area was made into a garden of remembrance designed by the city architect, L. C. Howitt. Another plaque was added later to commemorate the Korean War.

In March 2011 Manchester City Council began consultations on moving the cenotaph to an alternative site in the square to allow for expansion of the Metrolink tram network. The plans had a mixed reception. Some objections were made by the public but there was support from veterans, church, and heritage groups. The cenotaph's relocation was approved in 2012, and in January 2014 it was dismantled before it was cleaned and restored. In 2014 it was reconstructed in a new memorial garden on the opposite side of the square aligned with the southern entrance to Manchester Town Hall. The garden opened to the public in September 2014. The cenotaph was damaged in the first week when skateboarders began using the area as a skatepark. Repairs costing £4,000 started shortly afterwards, and extra security measures (including 24-hour CCTV coverage) were put in place.

The cenotaph was designated a grade II listed building on 12 February 1985 (originally described as "War Memorial, St Peter's Square"). Listed building status provides legal protection from demolition or modification; grade II is applied to structures of "special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them", about 92% of listed buildings. In November 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Lutyens' war memorials were recognised as a "national collection" and all his free-standing memorials in England were listed or had their listing status reviewed and their National Heritage List for England list entries were updated and expanded. As part of this process, Manchester Cenotaph was upgraded to grade II*, which is reserved for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest" and applied to about 5.5% of listed buildings.