Cenotaph, St Peter's Square, Manchester

Manchester was late in commissioning a First World War Memorial, a committee only being formed in 1922. In 1923 after much controversy a drawing of the design prepared by Sir Edwin Lutyens for the cenotaph to be erected on the site of the foundations of St. Peter's Church in St Peter’s Square was finally published. The memorial, worked in selected Portland stone and covering an area of about 93 feet long by 53 feet wide was unveiled on 12 July 1924 by the Earl of Derby, assisted by Mrs Bingle, of Ardwick whose three sons had all died in the war. It cost £6,940; the remaining funds being used to provide hospital beds.  It was described as follows in the official programme:

The main feature consists of a pylon, rising to height of 32 feet from the ground level. surmounted by a moulded and carved bier upon which is laid to rest the figure of a fighting man with equipment at his side and feet and a greatcoat thrown over the whole, conveying to those who stand below no individual identity and so in truth "every mother's son." On each of the flank sides of the pylon are carved the arms of Manchester encircled by laurel wreaths five feet in diameter, bound and supported by ribbons, and on each end swords in enriched sheaths, 10 feet long, and the Imperial crown in bold relief. The base is 14 feet by 12 feet, and is continued on both sides as dwarf walls with return ends terminated by obelisks 23 feet in height, on which are carved foliated Swags and inscribed with the dates MCMXIV and MCMXIX. The memorial bears in large deep-cut letters on the north-east side the words "To the honoured memory of those who gave their lives for their country." and on the south-west "O Lord God of our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people."

Immediately in front of the podium is the great war stone. This stone, which is 12 feet long, is in one piece, and upon it are cut the words "Their name liveth for evermore." The war stone rests upon a surround of three steps. set upon a slightly raised stone-paved platform, and is a replica of the stone of remembrance erected in the British cemeteries throughout the fighting areas where our men are laid to rest. The lay-out to the east is formed by a raised curb and stone-paving, circular at both ends, enclosing an area of grass turf, in the centre of which stands the cross erected on the site of St. Peter's Church.

The memorial has been designed by Sir Edwin L. Lutyens, R.A., and erected under his supervision by the Nine Elms Stone Masonry Works, London. It expresses the triumphant end of the war as well as the sadness and sorrow it entailed. [Manchester Guardian 8 July 1924 page 11]

THE MANCHESTER WAR MEMORIAL - The cenotaph will be placed over the foundations of the old church tower, and on the axial line of Mosley Street, Oxford Street, Peter Street and Lower Mosley Street. It will stand on a low base wall, which will be flanked by two obelisks and built so as to embrace the great War Stone to be placed at its base. The cenotaph will be 36 feet high and carry no ornamentation save the arms of the city encircled in wreaths. The apex will bear the effigy of a dead warrior. The work is to be carried out in Portland stone, and it is hoped that a beginning will be made next month. Both the question of site and the question of design have caused much controversy. The first steps by the City Council towards providing a city memorial to the Manchester men who were killed in the war were taken in August of last year when a committee was appointed to advise the Lord Mayor (Councillor Simon) in the matter. This Committee consisted of members of the City Council, with representatives of difference aspects of Manchester Life, and it reported in favour of a suitable monument being erected on the best available site in the city, but at a maximum cost of£10,000. The money was subscribed. The War Memorial Committee held two further meetings in February and March, and decided to erect a cenotaph in Albert Square, and to take the necessary steps for the removal of the Albert Memorial and all other monuments from the Square. The King gave permission for the removal of the Albert Memorial. The proposal to remove the monuments from the Square, however, aroused great opposition from art societies and other bodies, and at a meeting of the City Council in April the proposals of the Memorial Committee were rejected. A recommendation that the memorial should be placed in Piccadilly was carried by 71 votes to 30, and then the matter was referred back for further consideration. At the next meeting of the Council a proposal to erect the memorial in St Peter’s Square was adopted. The Committee were further authorised to obtain designs by competition or otherwise, and then a new controversy was opened. At the next meeting of the War Memorial Committee, Mr Percy Worthington was appointed as assessor to judge the competitive designs which were invited. But in July the Committee abandoned the idea of choosing a design from among competitive entries, the Lord Mayor (Councillor Cundiff) explaining that this was due to “certain insuperable difficulties.” These difficulties arose, it turned out, from the conditions framed for the competition by members of the Manchester Society of Architects. The Society maintained that the award of Mr Worthington, the assessor, should be regarded as final, but the Committee claimed the right of a limited freedom of choice. The War Memorial Committer the appointed a sub-committee from among its members to arrange for the preparation of a design, and this sub-committee were instructed to approach a particular artist “who can be trusted to prepare a suitable design.” Last month it was announced that the architect who had been invited to submit designs had accepted the War Memorial Committee’s commission, and later on that the architect in question was Sir Edwin Lutyens. [Manchester Guardian 20 September 1923 page 5 with plan and illustration]

THE STONE FOR THE MANCHESTER CENOTAPH - From a builders' yard In the dingiest part of Nine Elms district that is always bright with the hues of new Portland stone the blocks were sent to Manchester for the laying to-morrow of the foundation-stone of Manchester's war memorial. The builders, Messrs Holloway Brothers, at their Nine Elms work; are preparing for the assembling and dressing of the 160 tons of stone which Sir Edwin Lutyens has selected at Portland. It is, of course, a comparatively small affair as building work goes, but the greatest expertness and care are taken in the selection of stone for such a purpose and in the mason- work.

The Manchester Cenotaph will be taller than the parent Cenotaph in being 42 feet to the breast of the recumbent figure, while the Whitehall monument is 36 feet. The war stone, or altar stone, will be a single block of ten tons, one of the biggest Portland stone monoliths in the country. Its length will be 12 feet. While the work is going on the stone, as it is set in position, will be protected by "slurry," a mixture of stone dust and lime, for this fine, Whit bed stone stains easily at first, and afterwards a coat of the new stone preservative be applied, as in the case of Sir Edwin Lutyens's new building for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in Finsbury Square. The builders hope that the Portland stone weather as beautifully in Manchester as in London. [Manchester Guardian 7 November 1923 page 8]

The opening in 1992 of the Metrolink tram system, with a station in St Peter’s Square did little to enhance the site of the Cenotaph. In 2014, Manchester City Council dismantled the memorial and reconstructed it at the northeast corner of St Peter's Square next to Manchester Town Hall to make room for the expanded Metrolink tram network. In 2015, Historic England recognised Manchester Cenotaph as part of a national collection of Lutyens' war memorials

Reference    Manchester Guardian 5 September 1923 page 9 – sketch proposals
Reference    Manchester Guardian 20 September 1923 page 5 with plan and illustration
Reference    Manchester Guardian 5 November 1923 page 11 – foundation stone
Reference    Manchester Guardian 7 November 1923 page 8 - contractor
Reference    Manchester Guardian 8 November 1923 page 11 – foundation stone
Reference    Manchester Guardian 8 July 1924 page 11 - Unveiling of the War Memorial: Arrangements for the Ceremony
Reference    Manchester Guardian 12 July 1924 page 13 – opening ceremony
Reference    Manchester Guardian 13 July 1924 page 7  – opening ceremony