Between the Local and the Global: Municipal Politics, Transatlantic Relations, and Manchester's Statue of Abraham Lincoln

“I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to say,” said one local shopworker, asked by a reporter to comment on some rather eye-catching additions made in 2009 to Manchester's long-resident statue of Abraham Lincoln. “It's supposed to be modern art,” he continued, “I don't particularly like it. It looks very strange. . . . It's insulting. I think it looks really daft.” As the Manchester Evening News went on to explain, the additions that had so perplexed this interviewee included some twenty-first century bling: “On Lincoln's head was a baseball cap while on the fingers of his hands gold rings spelled out the words ‘true’ and ‘yank’.” According to Leon Reid IV, the American street artist responsible, these additions—made to coincide with the opening of a major exhibition in New York—had two main aims: Firstly, recognition that the statue of Lincoln is here in Manchester at all, as it seems many people don't know this. Secondly, I want people to ask ‘who was Lincoln?’—clearly he was not a guy from the hip-hop age, and hopefully my additions can raise questions about his identity and significance for African Americans.1It was a provocative intervention, and in the shopworker's disapproval it elided an eminently fitting local response. For this was by no means the first time Manchester's Lincoln statue had caused consternation. Indeed, in the months before it was first unveiled in September 1919, the statue had been the focus of a full-blown transatlantic argument.The statue was a gift of the wealthy Taft family of Ohio and originally destined for London. The cause of the trouble concerned the pose and posture chosen by the sculptor, George Grey Barnard. Here was Lincoln, the homespun man of the people, hair tussled and ruffled, clothes slightly dishevelled, oversized hands suggesting his early life splitting rails on the frontier. The perfect figure for Cincinnati (where the original had been dedicated in 1917), but was it right for London given the elevated position now occupied by the United States—a victor in the Great War—on the global stage? As far as the Great Emancipator's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was concerned, the answer was a resolute “no.” A former Minister to the Court of St. James (1889–1893), Lincoln's eldest son dismissed Barnard's statue as both “monstruous” and “grotesque.”2As a result, and in line with an older pre-war plan, a statue of Lincoln by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens ultimately was sent to London, with Barnard's statue thus left looking for a new home. In stepped the authorities in Manchester, long possessed of a keen interest in Lincoln, a man with whom they felt their city had a special connection. After all, the radical Member of Parliament, John Bright (born in nearby Rochdale), had been among Lincoln's most fervent British supporters, while Manchester's “working-men” had famously written to the president in December 1862 offering him their full support, even despite the local hardships and privations the conflict had caused (the Union's blockade of southern ports resulted in a “cotton famine” in Lancashire).3 After some behind the scenes wrangling, the statue came to Manchester and was unveiled at Platt Fields by the American Ambassador, John W. Davis, in September 1919. According to the Manchester Guardian, it spoke powerfully of those “memories not easily forgotten which bind us together.”4This article recounts the full history of Manchester's Abraham Lincoln connection. I start by revisiting the impact of the U.S. Civil War, paying particular attention to what this meant for how Lincoln was perceived in Manchester. I then explore the resurgent local interest in Lincoln that first emerged after his assassination in 1865 and that sparked again in 1909 (the centenary of his birth), before turning attention to the lively post-1918 debate surrounding the Barnard statue. Lastly, I examine the Barnard statue's century in the city, tracing the various ways it has been “used” over the years: from the “pilgrimages” it received from American GIs in the 1940s, to its relocation to a new in the for local to its as the of Manchester's this article to the Lincoln's and the United in this is the of in by and one of by the of Lincoln that in early the of the post-1918 debate over Manchester's Barnard statue been the of and the statue's to the of transatlantic been As has been no of Abraham Lincoln in Manchester of how his statue has been “used” from to the this in I that Manchester's Lincoln statue at the of the local and the and to this it has been and by the of and of transatlantic and of As Manchester's Abraham Lincoln a on how the with a particular of can and it that in the of the and the of Manchester's Lincoln statue ultimately in the American Civil War, which out in with for the of long on the of the from the of the The this transatlantic not a of the and by the was to blockade In this blockade a of the United and Great particularly the the recognition as a in a months in their the which a U.S. by two James and John then the on a the a with the of by this perceived to British and a of months had as both to the to transatlantic with and its Manchester, The American for the of the from the early 1862 and of that many in a keen interest in the and the of to which the their has attention A was that the in behind the even in of the privations the conflict had this was in the by that many in the had in they Lincoln's of and that of British the Manchester Guardian, the of the that the had the right to from on the and that in its with and the not be was from of no on the American Civil War, but by and many among the and in the the in the and far to the the man the Abraham Lincoln, British in but a of both and Lincoln was not and he in a keen interest in British and of his transatlantic in and those as John Bright of for Manchester from to and radical Member of Parliament, from to both of the Manchester of and for It was among the of Bright and that Lincoln of his most British In the was and Lincoln was even in the London in and the of what in Manchester in December 1862 the of a to Lincoln offering Manchester's in the Union's the The a of of the Manchester and at the the very at which had American a in According to the Manchester Guardian, the 1862 had been by an by and two and in various local as the Member of and a of the Manchester It by a with those in of the and those the it was the former ultimately the of a to Lincoln Manchester's with an of the and the United with those their and on to that in as an of and and to new over a as a for the is which had with and in and that was the of not but to and it It was this its Civil and had now the of Manchester to to the of the American For even the conflict had the their to Lincoln's as they After all, the on the of the and it was for this that Lincoln had and A the by the before the of Manchester Lincoln the which made in the of months us with that on be and that the of that on and cause the of Abraham Lincoln to be and by that a Great and the United in and his that he which the at Manchester and in to in this he went on to what was at paying attention to the that had so his It has been and that the to this which was the of and to for it one which on the of was to the of the of the of been to a for the of their to that Lincoln, the of Manchester's was a of As he these I but the as an of which has not been in in It an and of the of and of the and of and his with the that my the and which now the two as it be my to was a a president and the of a city, one that was in the some local from Lincoln's It to a of in Manchester it was not an of the in this had been a in was the at which a of Manchester had an with Lincoln in had with a to Lincoln of the by the to so as not to the cause of the A by one of this in the local of the in this man whom they so about in As the was the man was the for a of the and of the of I I to at the of his in the and in Manchester that I his with him in that in Manchester Lincoln was in be of far these of in in for a to what was then the of the that the city was in in for the American president and at in the of the local even that in not to its as a city that Lincoln's and his as a president and a his this as at the of a man of to the of the of Lincoln's was in Manchester with two after Lincoln was by John at the of Manchester a special to the to their at the and and in the that the of the local full of the with which the was In the Manchester of the assassination a full of the with the to their and to to the American their again at an of to be sent to W. (the American of the a of the of the in and the of with which the of the of the assassination of the The was from the a of the city that he a time a of the of the as it received the of the assassination of A of was by the to the American Minister in of from many and in the and Manchester's major the of Lincoln's assassination with even the Guardian, of the on the of the with the words that of his family with the is for the after his many a for the man had written so in for the in on the of the the Manchester its that Lincoln for his and for while an of the of his keen for the new In British with Lincoln in the early in to that had long been the of his of Lincoln's had various for of the of whom keen to for the Great a It was not that many of the at by and in their The of Abraham to the opening of this was an of Lincoln's with the for quite some the had family to and in particular to the of of from which his had in for In this of Lincoln's was and it a in the with which various the centenary of his in In the British Ambassador, long an of the American a that was out in his in the of the and at various in special to the was one As a in the Manchester it a before the that the of Manchester, by with the people of the American to in the of this The in was by the and a special by a of the from Manchester the of and the It was in the on the of (the very of the and the of a of to a from the American former in the and of the and Here was a of Manchester's to the of the man to whom they had their in that a an to for Manchester a statue of Lincoln, local authorities and of Manchester's Lincoln statue been but the a The in the to the an centenary of the of interest on both of the The in had to a the of and in the that had been the of had been no to be a to a new the one on what various as a to a the was by the of in and the two centenary that had been one in the United one in thus their on It was not American the conflict in that interest in the centenary was with one of the original now to the the in of of two American George and Abraham Lincoln. The statue of a gift of the of was unveiled at by of for in was by the of at in as a to the The Lincoln far the was on a statue by Augustus which the American centenary to to London. the original was dedicated in in the Saint-Gaudens statue had Lincoln as a on in the of its the to to London a of Lincoln to and the was in in the head of the American centenary John a new by an made by the wealthy and Taft family to a of a Lincoln one by the sculptor George Grey the original of which was dedicated in Cincinnati that very was to a of of the United from 1909 to Barnard's was to that of was Lincoln as and man of the people, and various made their these was Robert Lincoln, the to a Robert Lincoln had a a for his and as a former he to the cause of thus had particularly on what of his be to Barnard's Lincoln, he not it as a gift to a one he went so far as to Taft that he Barnard's statue to be a figure which is as a of Lincoln and as an was not and in various in the American in with their For one Barnard's Lincoln was a in for it its as a and in Barnard's a with to how Lincoln's hands his the British in of a had the statue by Taft in with the of that a for Lincoln had been at the of the of the at Barnard's by various American now the For his made that it was the of the to that of the but how he a that so many an British with some of the of the out in of Barnard's Lincoln, one of whom at the Saint-Gaudens it as the a was with a figure in the British centenary in suggesting that both Lincoln be sent to with to London and Barnard's to and so to Lincoln's at In the it was Manchester it was with the it but not before the two of and a As a in the Manchester Evening News The of Manchester and for the Barnard Lincoln statue has caused a of on the of the which has its in Manchester has a of while has to the statue in a most and the had to it to the . . . A has been made that the Barnard statue be sent to Manchester and a of the Cincinnati original be in the . . . The a which the of American of which for the be to on their to at the very of 1919, the of the British its in a to Manchester's in the local The at its here had before it from the of Manchester, and for the Barnard statue of Abraham Lincoln to this by the After of these and by with the and the American the to the statue to statue in Manchester two months in 1919, before a of the which they had a Manchester of the for the of the British and American For those this was an not of the and that the city in the As while these to transatlantic by the of the they of a on the in in to the and of the the months the statue was at the while for the it be at and the of the before a was at Platt Fields in an of by the in The on September 1919, not before The American Ambassador, John W. Davis, seems to been keen to head for the his at the he a of on the the of the the figure in the American and the of Manchester and with to various of interest in the city, the John and the with the American to It seems the was on its in so the a as they a of the city in its A at the which the words of Manchester as of and The then left the by at and by to Platt they in to the The after with a by the before the one of the to an For the statue a new of one by a history of and by the of As he It is that two to think very and think of and in time be to in the of the of and in the of to the family of was at to his had not the that not the Great it had to had people was by people and for over a it a of the In a the that a and no now that is full and on at the the of his to the that with a of and can the of an some words on and life of Abraham the to the which had been on a of The with the of the two by a from the said the Manchester Guardian, very and as of the of the of the of American life and of rather to that by the in it was by that it has the the statue was in Manchester the which with it a is and the United and Manchester is the of a of which so a of the as “memories not easily forgotten which bind us As the is the of the the American Civil War, so by not for a their and the of and of that to the of the which was out the and at a and two us and the of a with Lincoln's said the Guardian, a of and which city a fitting for the statue which was unveiled while London Lincoln the (the Saint-Gaudens Manchester had the for the of the Manchester's Lincoln not As the went on to explain, it was for the and the that it a here is of the by in the and of the two to the of of and of which bind and for to bind this was of the a conflict that had of in of for by and of and a In Manchester, had The city had a of American a of whom had been in at the and to American in to the the had been had chosen Manchester as one of his first of (the his had been and London, he with and with Minister in Manchester at the very of December of the to Lincoln of the by the of the a from in which he his for the city, it to be in its and and thus a he felt the Guardian, of these various and what so many that the the United and Great was of a a and a As the in Manchester had one to the of of of which us with Lincoln that is and most in the The was that and on those and the and that he is in as as like his he has from that he has and significance for the was a of early in was a of among transatlantic many of whom in an means to the of In a statue of Lincoln to as as of George to as Manchester in September a statue Lincoln as the of the and a of the that of Lincoln as of what the Manchester in line with the of at the of a Lincoln in and be again the the of the Saint-Gaudens statue in this these to the transatlantic of the was a that first emerged in a in the to what famously the a by the of by the transatlantic of and in the and by the of The was that by the early century and at of about the supposed of their two and Great and the United as of the As has was among and After it by some of the new of the the over the of British and the Manchester's Lincoln emerged and these in the at in the the of while an of the the to the that the statue had a the its Manchester's Lincoln the of a in the In the United and now in the as a and a of the of In and and by the of the a British Minister was and to on from the be Manchester its transatlantic but the Lincoln statue was in to a for the to in Platt Fields and behind a of Lincoln no the interest of those on a but at so it that by as British to by one Manchester a rather provocative According to the Manchester Evening this that of the Lincoln, be . . . and as Lincoln this the and a those by American had at The for this in an on the of the the on which the United the War, a of which was the of American GIs in the for the of American as George to various British one of which was in and in nearby with at the at and at to the U.S. authorities with their British on various to to local of American of those American in for to the of family of the American and so the various on the dedicated to the and the In George to a in the far a for American for those in and Manchester the the Lincoln an in of the by Lincoln's and in how many made a to Platt Fields is to but at two local the first of which was in the Manchester Evening News in in two GIs a Manchester, which at the statue of The was as it the reporter the to to the Manchester Evening an about the they not one and the on at the Lincoln and as the reporter the two and Robert a the Civil of was an for what the a from the from the of the city of while his a from the from in As the reporter to the of the the and I . . . and on the how Lincoln and of among sure now for which it the and the no and in a in to Manchester's Lincoln statue that seems to local comment in this the had to the of the African American as George and John by the W. as as by the American George the a at Lincoln's to the of his In their a very history from that by and Here is Lincoln the a figure has as in and an by many African with what has a . . . in a of with his life and was a that had a particular in Manchester, for the city had long occupied an position in the it the in the in and W. in two very to Lincoln by American by by paying to the Great a of the American one that is not in that it African American of whom to the and of U.S. was by in The of GIs in the of Manchester is to but the at African American and and in on these both they among like a to Manchester's Lincoln a means to and in a that the authorities for what was to in the man to the the Manchester's Lincoln statue to attention from American in the U.S. at nearby a of the of American in this is a in and at in even included a on the Lincoln that it had been by and to by the for the cause of the the the the statue attention from American on it seems that local interest be a of the and U.S. the one of Lincoln's in by a at his the Civil of the very of the African American Civil in of which Lincoln's was again to with in the early the Lincoln statue again in the a to The of this new of in to Lincoln to the local after the of and in with the of and then of the in In this a a means to the transatlantic an and made by the that the of was then very in the of the and as has the came from a very particular a and with a in Manchester on the to local for their the in had to the city a of to their and for then that the Barnard statue be from Platt Fields and at the now to be the statue had been a and be so As has city not with the of to how an be not at the that and not after the was first the As in 1919, the city had to the of the U.S. but despite an he ultimately the interest of in was the of the in In the the was by the African American for his in the New in the and Here was recognition of Lincoln's in as as a to the from the had resulted in the of a one of which be on For as the statue was unveiled by a local from the of a a of Civil as the of the that had the at Lincoln's in in was very from the of September 1919. was at one in that time the of not of a of The of Lincoln's 1862 to Manchester, a new of had been so that it was now to the of the city rather as in the to the to their The former that the was to a of was for his and a former went one In that that a that people is history and for what In the Manchester Evening which had a rather long with the the was as of a of local for whom was a that very now Manchester's Lincoln has the rather and attention of In for the of a and “used” the Lincoln statue as a in an which to the to the history and of transatlantic As the has with and of as it the that the of the the and of and and and in the New and the explore these of . . . was the statue to Abraham Lincoln by George Grey Barnard unveiled in Manchester in For the and its which the the city and Lincoln, of a fervent that a transatlantic and a that to be in these Here is Manchester's Lincoln as again of the particular in the transatlantic of radical on the statue in that by Leon Reid IV, at the very start of this a in Manchester's Lincoln was even with the in the statue's first in Platt the original of the of a Manchester's Lincoln a of the particularly as various local transatlantic In the statue was even the of new a slightly the of the Manchester's According to the local this new is to a in which people be to the of in their now from the of a in the that the and Manchester a For the this is a to the and of Abraham Lincoln so as to global of the and with in an of and of on both of the to the very of here is Lincoln the for of Manchester's statue of Abraham Lincoln a that the by by no means in in at first and but they in in ways by in this Manchester's Lincoln this particularly The statue a of the American Civil War, a conflict that the United and that as in It was unveiled in the city in September some very and by as of the the the statue has had of both and and it has been by various and from GIs in the to an in the In these an with to the Manchester's Lincoln is not in in Indeed, like so it has to be eminently and even and as the statue's been to and Manchester's Lincoln thus that to attention to how “used” the and of is and the home.