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Queen Street, MANCHESTER, M2 5JJ

On December 31, 1862, a meeting of cotton workers at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester resolved to support the Union in their fight against slavery. This was despite the increasing hardship caused by the Union blockade preventing shipments of cotton to the Lancashire mills. On January 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln sent an address thanking the cotton workers of Lancashire for their support. This monument commemorates the events and reproduces portions of both documents.

This small public square in Manchester was created and given the name “Lincoln Square” in 1986, when the area near the town hall was redeveloped. At that time, the council moved a statue of Abraham Lincoln from Platt Fields Park to its present site within the square. The statue of Abraham is a replica of a one in Lytle Park, Cincinnati (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3QET_Abraham_Lincoln_Statue_Cincinnati_Ohio ). It was donated to the city in 1919 as a gift from Charles Taft, half brother to former US President William Howard Taft. The link between Lincoln and Manchester is that unemployed mill workers supported Lincoln during the American Civil War. In the mid-nineteenth century, Manchester was the World’s largest processor of cotton but, in 1862, Lancashire mill workers took a principled stand by refusing to touch raw cotton picked by US slaves. This was not an easy decision to make and led to the Lancashire Cotton Famine, which saw many cotton workers lose their jobs and struggle to feed their families. Lincoln acknowledged the self-sacrifice of the 'working men* of Manchester' in a letter he sent them in 1863. Lincoln's words, later inscribed* on the pedestal of the statue, praised the workers for their selfless act of "sublime Christian heroism. The statue is Grade II listed by English Heritage (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293302 National Heritage list for England) http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2013/feb/04/lincoln-oscars-manchester-cotton-abraham Lincoln’s Great Debt to Manchester (Guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 February 2013) http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMDKE8_Abraham_Lincoln_Statue_in_Lincoln_Square_Manchester_UK Abraham Lincoln on Waymarking.com *In 1986, when the pedestal was added and inscribed, the council changed the text of Lincoln’s letter slightly and changed a reference to the ‘working men of Lancashire’ to the ‘working people of Lancashire’. Although some criticised this as an act of 'political correctness', the change is actually more accurate because at the time of the writing of the letter, more than half of the work force in the cotton mills was female.

The Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293302 statue of Abraham Lincoln by George Gray Barnard was given to the City of Manchester in 1919 by Mr and Mrs Charles Phelps Taft, of Cincinnati, the Sulgrave Institution, and the Anglo-American Society. It was originally displayed in Platt Fields Park and was re-sited in Lincoln Square in 1986. The square is currently undergoing refurbishment https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/lincoln-square-overhaul-revealed/ The statue will be retained but moved to a different position within the square. Following the demolition of the building that previously occupied the space between Mulberry Street and Brazennose Street St Mary's Image church is now somewhat less hidden than it was.

The Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293302 statue of Abraham Lincoln by George Gray Barnard was given to the City of Manchester in 1919 by Mr and Mrs Charles Phelps Taft, of Cincinnati, the Sulgrave Institution, and the Anglo-American Society. It was originally displayed in Platt Fields Park and was re-sited in Lincoln Square Image in 1986.

The Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293302 statue of Abraham Lincoln by George Gray Barnard was given to the City of Manchester in 1919 by Mr and Mrs Charles Phelps Taft, of Cincinnati, the Sulgrave Institution, and the Anglo-American Society. It was originally displayed in Platt Fields Park and was re-sited in Lincoln Square in 1986. The square underwent refurbishment between 2019 and 2022. https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/lincoln-square-overhaul-revealed/ Key features of the change were re-positioning the Lincoln statue by 90 degrees to act as a centre point for the square and the re-location of the Peace Gardens, formerly situated in St Peter's Square. This features tree planting and seating as well as floor lighting and a memorial plaque to Princess Diana.

The Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293302 statue of Abraham Lincoln by George Gray Barnard was given to the City of Manchester in 1919 by Mr and Mrs Charles Phelps Taft, of Cincinnati, the Sulgrave Institution, and the Anglo-American Society. It was originally displayed in Platt Fields Park and was re-sited in Lincoln Square in 1986. The square underwent refurbishment between 2019 and 2022. https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/lincoln-square-overhaul-revealed/ Key features of the change were re-positioning the Lincoln statue by 90 degrees to act as a centre point for the square and the re-location of the Peace Gardens, formerly situated in St Peter’s Square. This features tree planting and seating as well as floor lighting and a memorial plaque to Princess Diana.

This small public square was created in 1986, when the area near the town hall was redeveloped. At that time, the council moved the Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293302 statue of Abraham Lincoln from Platt Fields Park to its present site within the square. In front of the statue was a fountain, built to commemorate the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. Like the marriage itself, the fountain didn't last. It was filled in, converted to a raised flower bed and rededicated to the memory of Diana after her death in 1997. In the background is Centurion House Image which fronts Deansgate.