“Theyr moving father’s grave to build a sewer” ….. from Victoria Street to Wythenshawe

To be accurate this is not a story about moving dad, but more about Oliver Cromwell and his journey from the city centre to a park.

Happy, circa 1900

And I have Tony Flynn that excellent Salford historian to thank for the idea.

Like many I am ambivalent about Cromwell. He was the man behind the New Model Army which wopped the forces of King Charles 1 during the English Civil War, was head of England’s only republic, and allowed Jews to return to the country.

But as Lord Protector his later years had hints of monachal rule while the invasion of Ireland, the brutality of the conquest, and the confiscation of land along with the denial of rights for Catholics in the Act Of Settlement have marred his reputation.

Moving, 1968

None of which I suspect had anything to do with the moving of his statue from close to the Cathedral in May 1968 to Wythenshawe Park.

For 93 years he had stood on his stone plinth facing the Royal Exchange and flanked by the Cathedral on one side and Exchange Railway Station on the other.

He was a gift to the City Council from Mrs Heywood and the bronze figure with its granite plinth cost £1,600. The council made much of the statue at a special meeting held on December 1st, before “the Corporation accompanied by a large number of friends proceeded to the statue which was unveiled in the presence of many thousands of spectators.  Three cheers were given for the queen, the Royal Family and Mrs. Heywood and the Mayor.”**

I have long wondered at exactly why it was moved.  The official line was that it got in the way of traffic.

It’s arrival in the park was not an easy one, and just a week later it was daubed with red paint which “Mr. R.C Mcmillan director of the city parks believed there was more in the daubing than ordinary vandalism”***

Nor was it a good year all round for Oliver.

Later in the year just before British Rail phased out the last steam locomotives, it chose a Britannia Class steam engine, Oliver Cromwell, No 70013  to haul a special “London to Manchester tour train to mark the centenary of the opening of the London-Manchester railway service”.****

All of which seems fine and fitting, except that according to the same report “A diesal was substituted for the last stage of the journey from Nottingham”.

Flat bed indignity, 1968

A double whammy of ingratitude.

Pictures;  Cromwell in his original home, circa 1900, Judge Picture Postcard, from the collection of V & G Harris, the chaps moving him, 1968 courtesy of Tony Flynn

*Musical Hall song, "Theyr moving father's grave to build a sewer

They're moving it regardless of expense.

They're moving his remains to lay down nine-inch

drains

To irrigate some rich bloke's residence".

**The Cromwell Statue, Manchester Guardian, December 2nd, 1875

***Paint daubed on Cromwell statue, The Guardian, June 4th, 1968

****Final Journey, The Guardian, June 10th, 1968

On that statue of Mr. Colston …..…and thoughts on Annie Kenney, the Sheffield Women of Steel and Totò

Now I am not precious about statues in public places.

Manchester statues, Sir Robert Peel, Piccadilly, 2018

Augustus, one that survived, Rome, 2008

Most of the ones I pass are of people I have little knowledge of, and belong to a specific time and outlook frozen in the past.

And I am reminded that the Romans were never over bothered about their own great and good, to the point where some statues of dead emperors were melted down for coinage or to start the process of commemorating another live emperor.

Which of course brings me to the current debate on those past public figures connected with our Imperialist past and in particular Britain’s involvement in the slave trade and in slavery.

I have listened carefully to the case against Edward Colston the Bristol slave trader, Robert Milligan who owned two sugar plantations and 526 slaves and Cecil Rhodes, and the arguments against them and others like them are very powerful.

After all, as one Liverpool activist reflected yesterday, we wouldn’t tolerate statues of Adolf Hitler on our streets.

Manchester statues, James Watt, Piccadilly, 2018

But I also paid attention to the comments of those who expressed concern about “air brushing out of history” the exponents of slavery, which in their words runs the danger of actually contributing to a dilution of Britain’s involvement in both the slave trade and slavery.

This was an involvement which permeated many aspects of our economy in ways we might not at first realize, and was central to the economic activity of cities like Bristol, Liverpool and London.

So it is possible to trace the links back from the plantations to the sugar, tobacco and textile industries of Britain, as well as the ship builders who built ships, the bakers and cake makers and of course those who worked in the cotton mills and refineries.

But then Manchester, which directly benefited from the production of cheap cotton grown by slave labour, came out in the late 18th century and organized a petition for the abolition of the trade, and again in the 1860s, supported the war against the Confederacy in the American Civil War.*

All of which makes history messy.  The current campaign to take down the statues of Sir Robert Peel and William Gladstone in Manchester are predicated on their family involvement in slavery and in the case of Gladstone some very iffy comments about why slavery should not be abolished.

Annie Kenney, Oldham, 2018

And yet Peel supported Catholic emancipation, abolished the Corn Laws, argued for Parliamentary reform having at first opposed it, and established the Metropolitan Police Force.

That doesn’t vindicate his earlier position on some issues, only to point out the contradictions in the outlook of those we have come to commemorate, and how some of them moved politically and came to embrace different ideas.

Personally, I think the statues of men, and they are almost always men, who supported and profited from the slave trade have had their day, but perhaps we should retain them with very prominent descriptions of what they did as a reminder of what collectively we did in the past.

Or perhaps they should re-appear in museums with those appropriate descriptions of their activities, and why some individuals or groups in certain communities felt the need to erect a statue in the first place.

Women of Streel, Sheffield, 2016

In that way the mature debate on issues like slavery, and its legacy along with the historic and present-day inequalities experienced by ethnic groups can go on with out celebrating people whose actions are a challenge to the concepts of humanity and equality.

It may be that it is time to evaluate all those public statues of the “great and good”.

This is already underway in cities and towns and perhaps even villages across the country, with calls for local debates on the merits of what stands in our squares and buildings.

Prince Albert, Albert Square, 2020

And that in turn requires some careful balancing of the “good and bad” actions of individuals.

So, Oliver Cromwell has been rightly condemned for his actions in Ireland, but celebrated as an important  factor in the defeat of King Charles and the defence of Parliament, despite his later actions as “Lord Protector”.

Emmeline Pankhurst came out in support of the continued prosecution of the Great War, when fellow women suffrage campaigners argued against it, and Nye Bevan instrumental in the formation of the NHS, opposed calls for Britain to abandon its nuclear deterrent.**

Totò, who makes me laugh, Naples, 2017

Added to which some have had more public recognition than others, so while Mrs Pankhurst is is up there in the text books, the media and of course on plinths, Annie Kenney remains a less well known figure from the campaign for female suffrafge.

Of course, there is also another thought, which is not mine, but my friend Eric who on more than one occasion has pondered on why we need statues of the good and great in public places anyway.

Perhaps such things have had their day, and on every plinth in every city there should just be a piece of artwork, commissioned by the public, displaying the work of everyone from the “renowned" to those of the local art college and community centre.

Or if we must have people, why not a celebration of the men and women history usually ignores like Annot Robinson,  the Sheffield Steel Women,***  or  the actors and comedians who have made us laugh.

Now that’s a thought.

Location; Manchester, Rome, Naples

Pictures; Manchester statues, Sir Robert Peel, James Watt and Prince Albert, 2018/2020, and Totò in Naples, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, the unveiling of  Annie Kenney's statue in Oldham, courtesy of Matthew Benham, 2018,  Women of Street statute, Sheffield, 2016 courtesy of Sheffield City Council

*Sugar Lane, an industry and a campaign, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2012/04/sugar-lane-industry-and-campaign.html

**Annot Robinson, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Manchester%20Women

***Women of Steel, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_of_Steel