"Sir J J Burnet architect, 1921-4. Sculpture by Ernest Gillick. Polished grey granite monument, U-plan with low walls with tall squat obelisk with incised detail and gilded cross to centre. Pair of sculptured lions couchant guard entrance to enclosure. All of polished light grey granite."
--Historic Scotland (
visit link)
"The Cenotaph - (1921-4), This is the principal monument to Glasgow’s dead, killed during the Great War of 1914-18. The inscription reads ‘To the immortal honour of the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of Glasgow who fell in the Great War. This memorial is dedicated in proud and grateful recognition by the City of Glasgow.’ The imposing monument by sculptor Ernest Gillick, (1874-1951), and architect, John James Burnet was erected in 1924 and provides a dignified setting for Glasgow’s annual remembrance ceremony where the clergy, dignitaries and Council officials lay wreaths at the Stone of Remembrance. By far the most powerful argument for the setting of the Cenotaph monument arose from the historical and sentimental associations bound up with that particular part of George Square.
It was here that....the Glasgow soldiers were recruited by successive Lords-Lieutenants, and hence they marched to war. It was here also that those who returned took the salute. The place was, in a measure, hallowed ground.
Glasgow’s monument to the First World War is designed on a rectangular U-Plan, and consists of a central stepped area flanked by a pair of low walls terminating in giant couchant lions. A truncated obelisk (strictly, the cenotaph itself) rises from the eastern side, the upper part of which takes the form of a sarcophagus decorated with four carved wreaths. The central area contains a horizontal slab bearing a relief carving of a large palm leaf and a wreath. Between this and the cenotaph is a simple altar-like block known as the ‘war’ stone or ‘great’ stone. On the front of the cenotaph is a figure of St Mungo in a baldacchino (canopy), which is itself embedded in a Glasgow crest. Attached to the wall above this is a gilded metal cross sculpted into the form of a sword. The rear wall of the cenotaph has an Imperial coat of arms carved in relief and a set of six bronze wreaths attached to flagpoles.
Plans to erect the monument were first proposed on 9 February 1920, by Sir James Waston Stewart, who called a public meeting.
Burnet’s the architect’s initial proposal, which was presented to the committee on 20 April 1922, consisted of ‘.....an open vault of 50ft by 27ft, stretching west into the Square. From the east end of the vault rises the Cenotaph to a height of about 30ft above the level of
the Square, the front of the Cenotaph showing to the Square. The vault, the floor of which is about 7ft below the level of the Square, is entered by steps on each side of the Cenotaph.’
Though the committee appears to have approved of the design in general, there were misgivings about the inclusion of the vault, and after ‘an exchange of views’ Burnet was asked to ‘submit a proposal for the erection of a bronze railing round the vault to prevent accidents’. A much more ominous development occurred, however, when the Provost Thomas Paxton moved to an amendment ‘that the whole matter be remitted back to Sir John Burnet in order that he might prepare a design for a Cenotaph without a vault. Although the amendment was defeated in a vote, the design was in fact rejected by the Corporation, and Burnet was required to resubmit his proposal.
The result was the design that currently exists today.
The statues of Gladstone, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were relocated, creating in the process the single most radical change in the appearance of George Square since it was comprehensively redesigned in 1866.
The monument was finally unveiled by Earl Haig on Saturday, 31st May 1924, in a ceremony attended by many thousands of spectators. Among the guests were Burnet himself and Lord Blythswood, the chairman of the committee supervising the construction, who formally asked the Lord Provost to accept the custody of the memorial on behalf of the Corporation and general body of the citizens.
The inscriptions relating to the Second World War were added in 1945.
A similar design, but on a smaller scale, was used by Burnet on his Hunter memorial (1925) in Glasgow University."
--Source (
visit link)