Ricardo Monument,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A classically styled limestone sarcophagus memorial, erected 1923 in memory of Brigadier General Ambrose Quintin Ricardo, and located to the west front of the Good Shepherd Church (HB10/07/002A) in Sion Mills.

The memorial is rectangular on plan, raised on a 3-stage podium. It is classically detailed with cornice, pedestal, and carved framed plaques flanked by corner pilasters having egg-and-dart mouldings and fluted shafts. The memorial is topped by a stepped block finished with a cast bronze wreath.

There are plaques to each side, as follows:

To west: “In memory of / Ambrose S. Quintin Ricardo CMG, CBE, DSO / In recognition of his great talents and / self sacrificing devotion on behalf of / many interests, his relatives friends and / fellow workers have combined to erect / this memorial”.

To east: “In memory of Brigadier General / Ambrose Quintin Ricardo CMG, CBE, DSO / Late Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers / Tirah Campaign 1897-1898 / South Africa 1900-1902 / The Great War 1914-1919 / Born 21 November 1866 Died 9 July 1923”.

To south: Inniskilling crest

To north: Coat of Arms depicting a shield with unicorn to right, wheat sheaves and diagonal band to left, surmounted by an armoured head topped by a bird.

Roof: N/A
Walling: Limestone
Windows: N/A
RWG: N/A

Historical information

Sion Mills was a company-owned town established by Herdman & Co., a flax spinning mill, run by the Herdman family as a model village for their workers and village maintenance staff, who all had an option for healthcare, until the village was privatised in the mid 1960s when the mills needed to raise capital during a slump in the linen industry.

The church and monument first appear on the fourth edition of the OS map (1951), captioned “Church of the Good Shepherd.”

The Ricardo Monument outside the Good Shepherd Church (HB10/07/002A) is a classical-style memorial erected in memory of Brigadier-General Ambrose St. Quintin Ricardo C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O. (1866-1923), who served in France during World War I and was “given command of the 9th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers” and accidentally “drowned in the reservoir he had built for Sion Mills” (“1835 to 1935,” p.15, 17; Ferguson, p.140A; Kennedy, p.109).

The funeral was reported at length by the “Londonderry Sentinel” in “Impressive Funeral Scenes at Sion Mills: Great Demonstrations of Sorrow and Sympathy” (Ferguson, p.138-141).

Ricardo became a member of the Board of Herdman & Co. Ltd. in 1903, taking the place of John Herdman after his death. He was the son-in-law of John’s brother Emerson Tennet Herdman (d.1918), who also saw action during World War I, and had commissioned the architect of the Good Shepherd church, William F. Unsworth, to remodel Sion House (Kennedy, p.109).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/10/1 -First Edition OS Map (1832-33)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/10/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/10/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/10/4 -Fourth Edition OS Map (1951)
5. PRONI VAL/12/E/182/1 -Town plan of Omagh (1866-1898)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/1A-F -Valuation Revisions (1860-1923)

Secondary Sources

1.“1835 to 1935 At the Works of Herdmans Limited, Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone.” Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Self-published, 1935.
2. Bence-Jones, Mark. “A Guide to Irish Country Houses.” Second Revised Edition. London: Constable and Robinson, 1990.
3. de Breffny, Brian and George Mott. “The Churches and Abbeys of Ireland.” London: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
4. “Church of the Good Shepherd, Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone, Ireland: W. F. Unsworth, F.R.I.B.A., Architect.” In Bart, Charles Nicholson and Charles Spooner. “Recent English Architecture.” London: Caxton House, 1911.
5. Curl, James Stevens. “Victorian Architecture: Diversity and Invention.” (Reading: Spire Books, Ltd., 2007.), p.502.
6. Dixon, Hugh. “An Introduction to Ulster Architecture.” Second Edition. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008.
7. Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland). “Sion Mills Conservation Area.” Belfast: H.M.S.O., 1977.
8. Herdman, Rex. “Recollections of Rex Herdman.” In Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” (Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005.), p.123.
9. Fawcett, F. W., D. W. T. Crooks and James B. Leslie. “Clergy of Derry and Raphoe.” Belfast and Londonderry: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1999.
10. Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005.
11. Kennedy, Michael G. “By the Banks of the Mourne: A History of Strabane.” Strabane, Co. Tyrone: Strabane Historical Society, 1996.
12. McEvoy, John. “Statistical Survey of the County of Tyrone with Observations on the Means of Improvements; Drawn Up in the Years 1801, and 1802, For the Consideration, and Under the Direction of The Dublin Society.” (Dublin: Graisbery and Campbell, 1802. Reprinted as McEvoy, John. “County of Tyrone, 1802: A Statistical Survey.” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1991), p.172.
13. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories from the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications, 2000.
14. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
15. Walker, Simon. “Historic Ulster Churches” Belfast: The Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, 2000.
16. Williams, Jeremy. “Architecture in Ireland, 1837-1921: A Companion Guide.” Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd, 1994.
17. Young, Robert Magill “Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the Twentieth Century.” Pike's New Century Series, ed. W. T. Pike. Brighton : W. T. Pike, 1909.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An impressive stone memorial in the form of a table-tomb and with classical detailing well-crafted in limestone. The memorial commemorates a prominent figure in the history of Sion Mills, Brigadier General Ambrose Quintin Ricardo, a key figure in the construction of the Church of the Good Shepherd, with which it is associated and has group value.