What did the Victorians Think About Abe?
There has been a quality discussion about how the Victorians viewed and celebrated Lincoln on the Victoria Web listserve of late. At 21st-centuryabe, we are lucky enough to have an artist team interested in Lincoln abroad, so our wheels have been turning on that note for some time. However, our thought about Lincoln and the Victorians has been limited to date.
Kathy has noted several times the statue of Lincoln in Manchester. Rightly so, she’s discussed its erection and the inscription at the base expressing gratitude to the Manchester Cotton Workers that supported the Union Cause in the Civil War.
Through Victoria Web, we have learned that the story of the statue is not quite as straightforward as originally thought. The initial intent was to mount the work in Westminster (London), but that placement was considered too controversial, as the pose of the statue is “unstatesmanlike.” Conversly, that is just what the people of Manchester liked about it. Lincoln as man.
Even so, Manchester might not even have been second choice for the statues eventual home (and even there it has lived in two locations). Only after learning that Liverpool might recieve it did a group from the Manchester City Art Gallery petition to bring Lincoln to the city.
The statue, however, does not express the full story of Victorian attitude to Lincoln (it is also worth mentioning that it was not installed until 1919). Hot and Cold is one way to describe it. Admiration was more or less universally expressed after the assassination, but prior journalistic accounts of Old Abe were a mixed bag.
We do know that the Queen expressed her sympathies to Mary Todd following her husbands death. Some minor notes have been made about Dicken’s and his thoughts on Lincoln. Yet, no firm and solid findings from our team thus far.
May I suggest that what the Victorians thought about Lincoln is good fodder for our “Pundit Prize.” We all know the British Press loves a bit of gossip, so why not employ our Page Sixteen look? Or, simply go out and find more information about Abe and England to submit to found Abe.
Help Kathy and I out, we really do want to know what Abe ment to our friends across the pond.
