Stone Sermons: Monuments, Memory and the 'Mexico' Disaster

Yesterday I spotted a news item about Jenners department store in Edinburgh. The building, on a prime site on Princes Street, is currently run by Frasers Group PLC who hold the trading rights to the Jenners name but have decided to withdraw from leasing the site. This has sparked fears that, along with the immediate job losses, there may not be a department  store on the site for much longer, although the current owner of the building, Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, states that he intends to continue to lease the building for this use. This news caught my eye as William Birnie Rhind was responsible for the statuary on the current building which was officially opened in 1895. It is a good illustration of how he gained significant commissions for architectural as well as monumental sculpture during his working life. Jenners, Princes Street, Edinburgh. Wikimedia Commons The first incarnation of Jenners was opened in 1838 as Kennington and Jenner. It was established by Charle...

 I have not been able to find time to add much to the blog recently as I have been focussing on writing for the PhD, but I thought I would add another short piece at the close of the year. It is particularly relevant as we have just passed the 134 th anniversary (9-10 December) of the Mexico Disaster. December 1886 would have been a particularly difficult time in the environs of St Anne's, Lytham and Southport as bereaved families tried to come to terms with the loss of loved ones and breadwinners, and communities mourned whilst local leaders instigated fundraising efforts for those families. Lytham Times , 15 December 1886 This year’s anniversary is obviously not a significant number, but it was nonetheless remembered on the 'St Anne's Past' and the 'Southport of Yesterday' Facebook sites. There are also moves to have more significant commemorations next year for the 135 th anniversary. Evidently the events of December 1886 still have resonance for many in bo...

 A significant area of my research has been and will continue be the sculptor of St Anne's Mexico monument William Birnie Rhind. Whilst not generally considered to be in the major league he does have a considerable reputation as a talented and prolific artist, particularly in Scotland where he lived and obtained most of his commissions. The figure for the Mexico Monument in the Studio of William Birnie Rhind, 1888 Red Rose Collections , Lancashire County Council At the time of securing the commission for the Mexico monument, Rhind was establishing his reputation working in partnership with his father, John, on numerous public commissions in Scotland from their Edinburgh-based firm. As he was applying for the work at St Anne's, he was working on another solo project for a monument to the Black Watch Regiment which was unveiled in Aberfeldy in November 1887.  Black Watch Memorial, Aberfeldy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_watch_monument_Aberfeldy.jpg I am not sure...

 I am always searching for and examining images of the Mexico memorial and, just after we went into lockdown, I began looking at postcards of the monument on eBay. There were many available for sale, mainly covering the period from about 1900 through to the mid-1920s and, to amuse myself during the earlier stages of the Covid-19 lockdown, I started to order a few reasonably priced ones. It became something of a enjoyable compulsion, and it was almost like having a birthday each day as cards popped through the letter box with a pleasant regularity. The Lifeboat Monument, c.1905 Going through this process it became obvious to me that the monument was very closely identified with the town in that period. As I write, a search for 'lifeboat monument' on eBay produces images of 29 postcards 26 of which relate to the St Anne's Monument. It is interesting that searches for 'lifeboat statue' or 'lifeboat monument' also show mainly postcards, but change the results s...

The Mexico monument at St Anne’s was, and is, a focal point for collective mourning and a means of continuous celebration of the heroism of the lifeboatmen lost in the disaster of 1886. Although the monument formalized these processes they really began very soon after the disaster happened as emotive depictions of  the event and its aftermath appeared across various print media. It is a common conception that as a nation (and I speak here perhaps more of England than Britain collectively) we have latterly become far more likely to express emotion both as individuals and collectively. Critics of this perceived trend suggest that we have become emotionally incontinent, less inclined to traditional English stoicism and reserve. However, a quick study of newspapers relating to national events over the preceding 150 years shows that the desire to express emotion collectively over a national event has been with us for a long time The mourning and commemoration surrounding the Mexico ...

In early June I was thinking about the progress and likely direction of my PhD research and became a little concerned that it lacked the 'so what?' factor. I wondered that it might not be as relevant or compelling a subject as more contentious memorials and monuments. * In correspondence with my supervisors I had specifically cited the memorial to Edward Colston in Bristol as an example of a memorial with 'issues'. Two days later in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and during the growing Black Lives Matter protests the monument had been pulled down by demonstrators and thrown in the harbour. Colston Memorial, Bristol. Wikimedia Commons I had been aware of the Colston statue for a few years and had recently read an article by Sally Morgan, ' Memory and the Merchants: Commemoration and Civic Identity', first published in the International Journal of Heritage Studies in 1998. In the piece Morgan argues convincingly that the monument could be considered as th...