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The Cenotaph.....................cont
'Crowds began to assemble at dawn, many theatres were closed on account of traffic
congestion and no less that 1,500 officers and 15,000 other ranks had to camp
under canvas to enable them to take part in that memorable ceremony'. [7] The
temporary wood and plaster structure was unveiled on the morning of 19th July
1919. Later that day the parade was held. The troops of the victorious nations
marched past the Cenotaph in solemn silence, led by the Allied commanders.
It was saluted by them and the marching detachments. 'The King reviewed the
parade from a temporary pavilion constructed for the purpose at Buckingham
Palace, and an elaborate program of festivities and entertainments followed....The
temporary Cenotaph was such a minor detail in the planning of the Peace Day
Celebration and the winding down of the war effort that no one involved could
have possibly imagined its becoming the official memorial. But it was the Cenotaph
which had caught hold of the public's imagination. From then on, this understated
and abstract monument became the symbol of England's grief'. [8] The
parade was barely over, before the question of making the Cenotaph a permanent
structure began to attract attention. The Times newspaper printed a letter
signed "R.I.P." which stated: "The Cenotaph in Whitehall is
so simple and dignified that it would be a pity to consider it merely as an
ephemeral structure'. [9] The
paper subsequently wrote: 'The new Cenotaph erected in Whitehall to the memory
of 'the glorious dead' was the centre of what was perhaps the most moving portion
of Saturday's triumphal ceremony. The Cenotaph… is only a temporary
structure made to look like stone; but Sir Edwin Lutyens's design is so grave,
severe and beautiful that one might well wish it were indeed of stone and permanent' [10]
Captain Ormsby-Gore MP raised the question
of the conversion of the temporary structure into a permanent one in the
House of Commons. At the same time, he and 23 other MPs signed a memorandum
to Sir Alfred Mond requesting that a permanent memorial to the fallen of
the Great War be erected on the site. The immediate and overwhelming public
acclaim for Lutyens' hurriedly prepared design afforded them a ready solution
to a potential problem. 'Time passed and the plain fact emerged and grew
stronger every hour that the Cenotaph was what the people wanted, and that
they wanted to have the wood and plaster original replaced by an identical
memorial in lasting stone. It was a mass-feeling too deep to express itself
more fitly than by piles of fresh flowers which loving hands placed on
the Cenotaph day by day. Thus it was decided, by the human sentiment of
millions, that the Cenotaph should be as it is now, and speaking as the
designer, I would wish for no greater honour, no more complete and lasting
satisfaction'. [11] 'In
some mysterious way, the design of the Cenotaph embodied the nation's deep
and terrible bereavement. It became the focus for four years of pent-up
sorrow which had been waiting for victory, or some tangible signal, to
be released. For the Government, this spontaneous wave of public approval
solved the thorny task of defining a program and selecting a design for
a permanent memorial'. [12]
Sir Alfred Mond pressed the Cabinet for a decision on 'retaining in a permanent
form the Whitehall Cenotaph'. He told them: 'Unless it were removed within
the next nine or ten days it would probably crumble to pieces'. [13] The
Cabinet took the decision that it was to be re-erected in a permanent form
on the same site. The Times reported: 'It is understood that the
Cabinet were largely influenced in their decision to retain the Whitehall
site by a moving letter from Sir Edwin Lutyens, which Sir Alfred read to
the assembled Ministers. There were several alternative proposals before
the Cabinet. The one which obtained most support was that the Cenotaph should
be re-erected in permanent form in a spot to which traffic considerations
did not apply - for preference in the Mall. The final decision was taken
against any change of site on the ground that the Cenotaph in its present
position had memories which could not be uprooted'. [14]
[7] Sir
Edwin Lutyens Journal of Remembrance.
[8] Allan
Greenburg Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (USA)
1989 Vol 48.
[9] Sir
Edwin Lutyens Journal of Remembrance.
[10] The Times 21st
July 1919 p. 15.
[12] Allan
Greenburg Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (USA)
1989 Vol 48.
[13] War
Cabinet Meeting 602, July 30th 1919. PRO file Works/20/139.
[14] The
Times 31st July 1919.
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