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Anniversaries and Commemorations

 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 134th 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 135th anniversary. Evidently the events of December 1886 still have resonance for many in both towns. This is of great interest to me as part of my research of the next few years will involve looking at the impact of the disaster and  the Mexico Monument over time and up to the present day.

The 'Frank Kilroy Collection' at Lancashire Archives is particularly useful in analysing longer term impacts as some of the material comes from the centenary commemorations in 1986. This includes programmes for events and articles in newspapers and periodicals which provide a crucial record of how the events of a hundred years earlier were commemorated, and how the monument was incorporated into these commemorations. These events had a national reach and one of the highlights was a nationwide broadcast of Songs of Praise recorded in Lytham St Anne’s and broadcast on 14 September 1986. The story of the disaster recorded for the programme was narrated by the then very well-known host of Songs of Praise, the presenter Cliff Michelmore. The next really significant commemoration will, I assume, be the 150th anniversary in 2036. It will be interesting to see how St Anne’s (and Southport)  go about the celebrations of this anniversary and to what extent this reinvigorates the civic and community interest in the disaster as well as the national resonance of the story.

Booklet used at the rehearsal for the Songs of Praise commemoration of the
 Mexico Disaster Centenary, 31 August 1986
Frank Kilroy Collection, Lancashire Archives, DDX 3123,2,9


German newspaper commemorating the centenary of the Mexico Disaster
Frank Kilroy Collection, Lancashire Archives, DDX 3123,1,11*

In considering the longer-term impact of the monument itself, I am curious about how much awareness there is outside of the local area and outside interested parties such as the RNLI. I recently came across a document from the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership published in May 2020 and titled Remade: A Cultural Investment Strategy for Lancashire. Each borough district in Lancashire has a list of 'Cultural Assets' and Fylde’s list, although it mentions the Les Dawson statue in St Anne’s Sunken Gardens by the pier, does not reference the Mexico Monument. This seems telling and, although I am personally a great fan of Les Dawson, William Birnie Rhind's lifeboat monument should be on the list and have a higher billing. I believe that my research will show that it is one of the most important pieces of public art in Lancashire and deserves more national attention. In The Public Sculpture of Lancashire and Cumbria, David Cross has noted that 'It eclipses the many fine statues of great men at Preston, Blackburn and Barrow'. Lancashire, Fylde and St Anne’s would also do well to maximise this asset. It could possibly even contribute to the development of the local area in a similar way that it helped to give  a certain status to St Anne's on the Sea in the early years of its development.  

*The Mexico was a German vessel with a German crew. All the crew were rescued by the Lytham Lifeboat, Charles Biggs. The German state contributed to the relief funds for the bereaved families. Representatives from the German Navy attended the centenary celebrations in St Anne's.

Sources 

David A. Cross, Public Sculpture of Lancashire and Cumbria, Public Sculpture of Britain, 19 (Liverpool: University Press, 2017)

Frank Kilroy Collection, Lancashire Archives, DDX 3123.

Remade: A Cultural Investment Strategy for Lancashire, Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, May 2020


 Andrew Walmsley, January 2021

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/history/about/people/andrew-walmsley




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