The Cenotaph at Leinster Lawn
by Sera McClintock
In 1923, a monument to Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith outside of Leinster House, facing Merrion Square, known as the Cenotaph, was erected on Leinster Lawn. It featured a forty-foot tall Celtic cross and a medallion on either side with a portrait of Collins and Griffith on respective sides. Below their portrait, their names were inscribed in Irish with the English translation on the back of the medallion. The cross also had an inscription, which read Do Chum Gloire De angus Onora na hEireann—‘For the glory of God and the honour of Ireland’. The unveiling was a public event, open to everyone regardless of political affiliation and done to prove that the new state was making an effort to move past old political divisions. The ceremony around the unveiling included a military procession and speeches from leaders such as President William T. Cosgrave, establishing the political implications of the Cenotaph.
The military procession for this unveiling began an hour before the official start of the event. Starting at the Phoenix Park, the military marched down the river side, until Parliament Street, Dame Street, College Green and Nassau Street were filled with soldiers and Civic Guards. Once they arrived at Merrion Square, the event at Leinster Lawn began, and President Cosgrave gave an impassioned speech, discussing not only the men they were there to honour, but also the message he believed these men died for. “They gave their lives in doing the duty to Ireland, and this was the death that they had always looked for and desired. They died before the fruit of their labours could be tasted by them in this life, but many a patriot before them had gone bravely to death with less success in sight.”
In drawing this connection with previous patriotic service, Cosgrave cemented the idea that the Free State was worthy of martyrdom, his words crafted to make the public understand that the new government was in control of how and why the Civil War was to be remembered in Ireland. After the unveiling, the National Army’s troops marched back to their barracks with brass accompaniment and before crowds of onlookers. Nine days later, on the one-year anniversary of Michael Collins’ death, another military march to the Cenotaph was completed to signify the end of mourning. The following day, the Civic Guard completed a similar procession, and the Dublin Metropolitan Police did the same the day after.
Although this Cenotaph was meant to represent a strengthened kinship following the Civil War, the materials used to create this monument led to its rapid deterioration on the lawn of Leinster House. Wood and plaster had been used to build the Cenotaph, with paint covering the medallions to give them a bronze appearance, but these fell foul of the wet Irish weather. This cheaply made figure was a result of the state’s need to quickly commemorate the events of the war in an effort to develop stronger trust in the newly established government. By the time they erected its permanent replacement nearly four decades later, the new monument cost nearly forty times more than the initial structure. One person who delighted in the ruin of the Cenotaph was Maude Griffith, the wife of Arthur Griffith. Mrs. Griffith refused to attend the unveiling ceremony,or any of the later events at the site. She viewed the ceremony—and the Cenotaph—as an entirely political endeavour that did not truly honour her husband. Her plea to have him removed from the memorial was refused, so she later rejoiced to hear of the deteriorating monument. Despite her refusal to attend the ceremony, she insisted on sending her children as representatives. She claimed she did so to ensure that the memory of Michael Collins did not eclipse the memory of her beloved husband.
Although they refused to remove Griffith or fix any of the damages to the monument, the state decided to add a plaque to Kevin O’Higgins after his assassination in 1927. They made this addition in an effort to maintain control over their public image, especially since Fianna Fáil had recently been established and entered the Dáil, and O’Higgins since had been murdered as an act of revenge for his association with the executions of republicans during the Civil War. These heightened political tensions and the circumstances of O’Higgins’s death brought the tensions of the first half of the decade back into the forefront of Irish politics. A rectangular plaque for O’Higgins was inserted between the medallions for Collins and Griffith, ignoring the several requests from the Office of Public Works to replace or repair the Cenotaph. Such requests were ignored until July 1939, when the Minister for Finance requested the Office of Public Works submit a design for the replacement memorial.
The request for a new design included a few stipulations, including the incorporation of a cross into the design. Once the Office of Public Works submitted their design, then Taoiseach Eamon de Valera heavily edited their design, even deciding to remove the names of the men the new monument was meant to memorialise. By 1947, the state decided to take a new approach to the Cenotaph’s replacement, requesting a column or obelisk with a cross and portraits of the three men to accompany it. The final design, which still stands today, is a sixty-foot tall granite obelisk, topped by a bronze flame, with a golden cross inscribed in on the public facing side of the obelisk. The circular base hosts a medallion for each man enclosed in bronze wreaths, as well as the inscription that was on the original Cenotaph: Do Chum Gloire De agus Onora na hEireann. This design was accepted in 1948 and completed two years later, its unveiling a far less spectacular event than that which accompanied the original. One of the main similarities of this new monument to the one it replaced is its exclusivity—the fence surrounding Leinster Lawn keeps the public from visiting the monument, or even seeing the medallions which show who it is meant to honour.
