Editing Hugh M'Neile (section)

== M‘Neile’s statue ==
Following his installation as the Dean of Ripon (on 29 October 1868), M‘Neile made his last speech in Liverpool on 4 November 1868. A group of his friends and parishioners, "having resolved to erect a full-length marble statue of him in Liverpool, in commemoration of his many valuable and long-continued services in the cause of religion and religious education", announced the next day that they were accepting donations to the Statue Fund, the maximum contributions to which were fixed at £5.<ref>"Public Notice: Testimonial to the Very Rev. Hugh M‘Neile, D.D., Dean of Ripon",
''The Liverpool Mercury and Lancashire General Advertiser'', No.6493, (Thursday, 5 November 1868), p.1, col.C.</ref>

In May the following year, the statue committee announced that its target amount had been reached and that an eminent sculptor, [[George Gammon Adams]], had been commissioned to produce the work and that Adams had already had several sittings with M‘Neile.<ref>"Local News: The M‘Neile Testimonial", ''The Liverpool Mercury and Lancashire General Advertiser'', No.6493, (11 May 1869), p.1, col.C.</ref> The statue was carved from a pure white 8-ton block of Italian [[Carrara marble]] (the same marble as [[David (Michelangelo)|Michelangelo's ''David'']]).

Adams took 18 months to finish the {{convert|6|ft|9|in|cm|abbr=on}}, 3-ton statue; and it was finished in mid-October. On 28 October 1870, the Liverpool Council considered a request from the McNeile Statue Committee "that the statue be accepted for placement in [[St George's Hall, Liverpool|St George’s Hall]]" (Cavanagh, 1997, p.&nbsp;281). The suggestion it should place a statue of M‘Neile in such a conspicuous place of honour,<ref>The eleven other dignitaries so honoured were: [[Robert Peel|Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850)]], twice Prime Minister, founder of the Conservative Party; [[William Roscoe|William Roscoe (1753–1831)]], Liverpool patron of the arts; [[Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, of Richmond Hill|Sir William Brown (1784–1864)]], Liverpool cotton merchant, politician, benefactor of the Free Public Library; [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|Edward Smith-Stanley (1799–1869)]], 14th Earl of Derby, three time Prime Minister; [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898)]], four time Prime Minister; [[Samuel Robert Graves|Samuel Robert Graves (1818–1873)]], merchant, ship owner, Mayor of Liverpool, M.P.; [[Edward Whitley (politician)|Edward Whitley (1825–1892)]], Mayor of Liverpool, M.P.; [[Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby|Frederick Stanley (1841–1908)]], 16th Earl of Derby, politician, Governor-General of Canada; Rev. Jonathan Brooks (1775–1855), Senior Rector and [[Archdeacon of Liverpool]]; [[George Stephenson|George Stephenson (1781–1848)]], inventor and pioneer of railways; and [[Joseph Mayer (antiquary)|Joseph Mayer (1803–1886)]], goldsmith, antiquary, collector, principal founder of Liverpool Museum.</ref> "produced an acrimonious discussion"; and, given the fierce objections by a considerable number present, the subject was deferred,<ref>"Local and General: A proposal to place a statue of Dr. McNeile…", ''The Leeds Mercury'', No.10156, (Saturday, 29 October 1870), p.8, col.C.</ref> for the simple reason that every statue that had been placed in St. George's Hall up to that time, had been accepted by a unanimous vote.

At the next meeting, on 9 November 1870, the first chaired by the new Lord Mayor, Joseph Gibbons Livingston (who was a strong supporter of M‘Neile), various motions were put, various amendments were proposed, and a number of very strongly held views were expressed.<ref>These strongly held views included:<br />(1) His entire 34 years in Liverpool had consistently stirred up such ill-will among the classes, and such division between different sections of the Liverpool community, that any suggestion that he had a national or local claim to such a high honour simply beggared belief; (2) He was a clergyman of high status and pre-eminent in one of the Church’s largest divisions; (3) He had no national significance as a clergyman, because he only served the interests of one section of the Church of England; (4) He was an earnest, conscientious, zealous Christian, of the highest principles whose integrity was beyond question; (5) His extreme anti-Catholicism had insulted, antagonized, and alienated at least a third of the population of Liverpool; (6) His vicious attacks on those who did not share his religious views (Roman Catholics, Anglo-Catholics within the Church of England, non-Evangelicals, non-Conformists, and Dissenters, etc.) were so offensive that, if a statue must be placed in St. George’s Hall, it was better to allow considerable time to pass and the offence he had caused to dissipate; and (7) He was a well-published author on divinity and theological subjects, and a measure of his excellence was that his works had been reviewed in prestigious publications such as ''The Edinburgh Review'' and ''The Times''.</ref> Despite the convention requiring a unanimous vote, it seems the majority (the final vote was 36 "aye" to 16 "nay") were prepared to take the view that, whatever divisive conduct M‘Neile may have displayed, he deserved recognition as a writer and orator, and agreed to place the statue amongst the other eleven local and national dignitaries (Cavanagh, 1977).

The established Liverpool custom was a public unveiling, with "the most prestigious guest available invited to officiate". These were great popular occasions, wherein "extended eulogies [were] delivered by the succession of committee-members and honoured guests", reports of which were "invariably peppered with the parenthetic "cheers", "hear-hears", "applause" and, even, "loud and extended applause" from crowds that attendant reporters frequently emphasized "encompassed all classes and creeds" (Cavanagh, 1997, p.xvi). Yet, in the case of M‘Neile's statue, it was brought to Liverpool and placed on its pedestal in the dark of night, and was unveiled "without any ceremonial" in St. George's Hall, three days later, on the evening of Monday, 5 December, in the presence of the Mayor, the chairman, secretary, and other several members of the Statue Committee, several "ladies", M‘Neile's son, the Revd Edmund Hugh M‘Neile (who took over St. Paul's, Princes Park from his father) and the Revd Dyson Rycroft, Honorary Canon of Liverpool.

Often, according to the established Liverpool custom, the sculptor would be present; and, on occasion, the sculptor might even deliver a short speech. In the case of M‘Neile's statue, the sculptor was the only one to speak; and, moreover, Adams had to unveil M‘Neile's statue himself.<ref>In Cavanagh’s opinion view, "McNeile, with his vituperative anti-catholicism, was perhaps such a controversial figure that even those councilors who had forced through his commemoration thought it wiser to abstain from such an open declaration of affinity" (1997, p.xvii).</ref>

The final irony is that, of all the statues, "the only statue in St George’s Hall to cause offence because of the character of its subject, is also the only statue to have received unanimous acclaim as a work of art" (Cavanagh, 1997, p.&nbsp;282):
::Mr. G.G. Adams, the artist who has given us the one good statue in St George’s Hall. … People may quarrel with the objects of the promoters of the memorial, but no one can withhold a tribute of admiration to the rare ability of the sculptor. (''Liverpool Daily Post'', 15 December 1870).<ref>Cited by Cavanagh (1997, p. 282).</ref>