Glasgow Cenotaph, also known as Glasgow War Memorial, is a war memorial which stands on the east side of

George Square George Square ( gd, Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is the principal civic square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of six squares in the city centre, the others being Cathedral Square, St Andrew's Square, St Enoch Square, Royal Exchange Sq ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, in front of Glasgow City Chambers. It was originally constructed to commemorate Glaswegians killed during the First World War, and was unveiled by Field Marshal

Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front from late 1915 unti ...

in 1924. Further inscriptions were added after the Second World War, and the memorial became a Grade B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1970.

Background

Over 200,000 men from Glasgow, about a fifth of the whole city population, served in the armed forces during the First World War. Around 18,000 were killed and 35,000 were injured. A war memorial committee was established, chaired by the Lord Provost Sir James Watson Stuart, which in 1920 agreed three proposals: to erect of a cenotaph as a public memorial in George Square; to provide financial support for the existing

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...

Memorial Workshops which had been opened in 1919 at Killearn Street in

Possilpark Possilpark is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow, situated north of the River Clyde and centred around Saracen Street. The area developed around Saracen Foundry of Walter MacFarlane & Co., which was the main employer. In the wake of th ...

to train disabled servicemen; and lastly any remaining funds would to be distributed to charity. The Prince Albert workshops continued from 1919 to 1923, before being combined with training facilities elsewhere.

Design

Designs for the public memorial were sought from several architects, including Robert Lorimer,

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

, and George Frampton, but in 1921 the committee selected a design by John James Burnet and Norman Aitken Dick. The design incorporates sculptures of stone lions and a stone statue of

St Mungo Kentigern ( cy, Cyndeyrn Garthwys; la, Kentigernus), known as Mungo, was a missionary in the Celtic Britons, Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century, and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow. Name In Wales and ...

Ernest Gillick Ernest George Gillick (19 November 1874 – 25 September 1951) was a British sculptor. Life Gillick was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, on 19 November 1874, the son of a tailor. The family moved to Nottingham, where Gillick was apprenticed as a de ...

The memorial is constructed from polished light grey granite supplied by Scott and Rae. At its centre is a tall cenotaph in the form of truncated granite pylon some high supporting an empty sarcophagus, with a large gilded metal sword as a cross high up on the front (west) face. Lower on the west face is a stone statue of the city's patron saint,

, under a canopy, surrounded by a mandorla with the city's motto "Let Glasgow Flourish", and supported by the

coat of arms of Glasgow The Coat of arms of Glasgow is the official emblem of the City of Glasgow, and has been in use in various forms since 1866. History The Lord Lyon first granted a patent for a coat of arms for the city of Glasgow in 1866. Before this time, ther ...

. The rear (east) face bears a carving of the Scottish version of the

Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Varian ...

. The longer north and south sides of the cenotaph are largely plain, with two stone wreaths carved either side of the sarcophagus at the top, and six bronze flagpoles with wreaths around the east end. Stone arms rise on three steps to the north and south sides of the obelisk, turning to the west to form three sides of an enclosure open to the west, with a sculpture of a guardant couchant lion at the west end of each arm. A large stone slab is set into the ground within the enclosure, as if covering a tomb, bearing stone carvings of a wreath and a palm leaf. The obelisk bears several inscriptions. On the west face, carved into the stone either side of the figure of St Mungo: " PRO PATRIA / 1914 1919 / 1939 1945" and then below, in raised lead letters: "TO THE IMMORTAL HONOUR OF THE / OFFICERS NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS / AND MEN OF GLASGOW WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR / THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED / IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL RECOGNITION BY / THE CITY OF GLASGOW" and then, carved into the stone at the base of the cenotaph: "

THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE {{No footnotes, date=January 2022 "Their name liveth for evermore" is a phrase from the King James Version of the Bible, forming the second half of a line in Ecclesiasticus or Sirach, chapter 44, verse 14, widely inscribed on war memorials since th ...

" On the east face, carded to either side of the royal coat of arms is "PRO PATRIA / 1914 1919" and then below raised lead letters read: "TOTAL OF / HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES / ENGAGED / AT HOME AND ABROAD / 8654465 / OF THIS NUMBER / THE CITY OF GLASGOW / RAISED OVER 200000" and then in smaller letters "UNVEILED / ON / SATURDAY 31ST MAY 1924 / BY / FIELD MARSHALL EARL HAIG OF BEMERSYDE / GM KT GCB / COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE EXPEDITIONARY / FORCES IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS / 1915-1919" Further raised lead letters on the south and north faces read, respectively: "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN / THAN THIS / THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE / FOR HIS FRIENDS", quoting from John 15:13; and "THESE DIED IN WAR / THAT WE AT PEACE MIGHT LIVE / THESE GAVE THEIR BEST / SO WE OUR BEST SHOULD GIVE". The monument was unveiled on 31 May 1924 by Field Marshal

. It became a Grade B

in 1970. File:Glasgow Cenotaph, George Square.jpg, West face and sarcophagus File:Glasgow Cenotaph, George Square, Glasgow.jpg, East face File:The Cenotaph, Glasgow (18750777463).jpg, From the south west, showing south elevation File:Lion at the Glasgow Cenotaph.jpg, Lion

References

Glasgow Cenotaph
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums
George Square, The Cenotaph
Historic Environment Scotland
Glasgow, George Square, Cenotaph
Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland
Glasgow's Cenotaph
firstworldwarglasgow.co.uk
Glasgow Cenotaph
War Memorials Online
Glasgow Cenotaph
Dictionary of Scottish Architects
The Cenotaph
The Glasgow Story {{coord, 55.86105, -4.24935, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1924 Category B listed buildings in Glasgow Monuments and memorials in Glasgow World War I memorials in Scotland World War II memorials in Scotland Listed monuments and memorials in Scotland