Sir Daniel Dixon Memorial

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Bronze statue of the former Lord Mayor, Sir Daniel Dixon, in beard and robes, by Hamo Thorneycroft, unveiled 1910, standing in front of the City Hall and set on a square grey granite plinth with heavy moulded cornice and inscription on the front face and bronze bas-relief plaques on the other three sides in the style of Walter Crane. The first depicts three maidens in flowing robes, one standing representing Progress and the others sitting representing Science and Education. The second, initialled HT 1910, has three standing maidens representing Prosperity (carrying fruit), Belfast (carrying a model ship) and Fame carrying a trumpet. The third shows a maiden (Shipping) carrying a boat flanked by two sitting men, Labour and Engineering. The statue is signed on the base by Thorneycroft.

Setting

Set in the grounds of Belfast City Hall (HB26/50/001A) amongst a number of memorials in the grounds (HB26/50/001B-001G and HB26/50/001I-001J), on grass lawns. Many of the buildings around Donegall Square are also similar in date, contributing to the context of this structure.

Pedestal: Grey granite
Statue and bas reliefs: Bronze

Historical information

Unveiled by the Earl of Shaftsbury in August 1910, this bronze memorial to Sir Daniel Dixon MP was executed by the London based sculptor, Sir William Hamo Thornycroft.

Lord Mayor of Belfast during the opening, and during much of the construction of the City Hall (HB26/50/001A), Sir Daniel Dixon was a politician, timber merchant, chief magistrate and chairman of the Harbour Board. According to McIntosh (2006), during his term as Lord Mayor, Dixon had also been personally responsible for providing a total of £20,000 toward ‘municipal entertaining’ (McIntosh).

Following the death of Dixon in March 1907, Sir William Hamo Thornycroft, whose mentor had been Alfred Waterhouse (the assessor of the competition designs for the City Hall), was commissioned to create a memorial to Dixon (Larmour). One of Britain’s leading sculptors, Thornycroft was the first person to be awarded the gold medal from the Royal Society of British Sculptors, in 1924. A key figure within the New Sculptural movement, his work was renowned for its ‘powerful realism’ (Stocker).

Writing in 2010, Larmour comments that the bronze statue of Dixon, designed in 1909, is “…boldly realistic…”. Beneath this statue is a pedestal of grey granite with bronze panels on three of the sides, depicting Shipping, Belfast, Science and Progress and Education (Larmour; Patton).

The second statue to be unveiled following the completion of the new City Hall building, the Dixon memorial was originally located within a large circular lawn in the north west area of the grounds. Positioned in line with the central statue of Queen Victoria (HB26/50/001I), this was the final piece, intended to balance the arrangement of five statues along the main façade of the City Hall (Larmour). However, with the changes made to the grounds in the 1920s, the Dixon memorial was relocated to its current position; sited in line with the western end of the main façade, next to the statue of Sir Robert McMordie (HB26/50/001G). During 1992-93 the memorial underwent cleaning and repair work (HB File).

References:

Primary Sources

1. National Library of Ireland, EAS_0492 “City Hall Belfast” (1900-40) The Eason Photograph Collection
http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/EAS_0492
2. HB File (HB26/50/001H)

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, P “Belfast City Hall- An Architectural History” UAHS (2010)
2. McIntosh, Gillian “Belfast City Hall One Hundred Years” Belfast City Council (2006)
3. Patton, Marcus “Central Belfast- An Historical Gazetteer” UAHS, Belfast (1993)
4. www.dia.ie - Dictionary of Irish Architects online

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
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Formal bronze statue of Sir Daniel Dixon, who was Chairman of the Harbour Board and Lord Mayor for five years at the end of his life. Sculpted by Hamo Thorneycroft and unveiled 1910, it is one of four similar statues erected in Belfast City Hall grounds shortly after it was built, but this one has three fine bas-relief bronzes set into its plinth. It forms part of a group of high quality memorials (HB26/50/001B-J) in the grounds of the City Hall. There are four similar standing statues of Lord Mayors facing Donegall Place, contributing to the historical significance of the group. This is a fine example of the work of one of Britain’s leading sculptors at the time representing Belfast's civic history.

General comments

Formerly HB26/50/009