Contrebis 2019 v37 THE ASHTON MEMORIAL, LANCASTER: A REASSESSMENT OF THE MONUMENT Michael Haslam Abstract This paper examines the architecture of the Ashton Memorial and the relationship between its design and purpose. It concludes with the author challenging the received view that it was built as a memorial to Lord Ashton’s second wife. Introduction The Ashton Memorial is one of six distinctive buildings in the Lancaster area (Table 1). All are visible from afar and from many viewpoints, against the backdrop of Morecambe Bay. This panoramic architectural display is a reminder of Lancaster’s history and its cultural and economic present. Lancaster Castle and the Priory Church, both at the highest point in the city centre, are visible reminders of the origins of the town. The 73-metre-high spire of the Victorian Roman Catholic Cathedral is the tallest structure in Lancaster by a considerable margin. Bowland Tower at Lancaster University, three-miles south of Lancaster, is a distinctive original feature of the University. The two buildings housing Heysham 1 and 2 nuclear-power stations are striking landmarks. The Ashton Memorial is different in many respects. Its distinctive architectural style is unlike any other building in Lancaster, located in Williamson Park at the highest elevation between the city and the M6 motorway where the top of the lantern above the dome is 152.30 metres above sea level – nearly 50 metres above the Cathedral’s spire. The Memorial is visible from the Cartmel peninsula, from Heysham and Morecambe and it is the first identifiable building in Lancaster to be seen from the M6 travelling south from Kendal. It is the only one of the six recognised nationally and internationally, having been described as the grandest monument in England and a commemoration of Lancaster’s industrial past. It is the most prominent building on the skyline of Lancaster and a defining image of the city. Despite this, there are only three books devoted to the Memorial. There are a large number of pamphlets and leaflets describing the building; Lord Ashton’s life and work; advertising the Memorial as a venue for public events; and a smaller number of general articles in academic journals and brief references to the Memorial in several architectural books. A little information exists about the Memorial, often repeated in publications, including speculation on the reasons for its erection. This article examines the purpose of Lord Ashton’s Memorial given its location and design. Building Height above Building Total height above mean sea level height mean sea level (m) (m) (m) (feet) 1. Ashton Memorial 107.00 45.301 152.30 499.69 2. Bowland Tower, Lancaster 62.00 44.03 106.03 347.88 University 3. St Peter’s Cathedral, Lancaster 30.06 73.002 103.06 338.14 4. Lancaster Priory Church 39.39 29.262 68.65 225.24 5. Lancaster Castle, Norman Keep 37.51 21.33 58.84 193.05 6. Heysham Power Station 1 8.00 25.003 33.00 108.27 1 2 3 Notes: To the top of the lantern surmounting the dome. To the top of the spire/tower. Estimated. Table 1. Height of prominent landmark buildings in Lancaster and Heysham 63 Contrebis 2019 v37 Lord Ashton and events leading to his withdrawal from public life It is not intended in this paper to provide a detailed account of Lord Ashton’s personal life or of his career as an industrialist, politician and philanthropist. This has already been the subject of meticulous research (Gooderson 1966; McClintock 1985; Ashworth 1989). No new information or documentation about Lord Ashton’s personal life or of his thoughts and feelings are likely to be discovered in the form of diaries, letters or autobiographic notes because all his papers were destroyed after his death (Gooderson, 1966, 14). The circumstances leading to building the Memorial and Lord Ashton’s subsequent withdrawal from public life are explained to provide background information to support the hypothesis that it was really a memorial to himself, rather than to his second wife. The memorial was to commemorate his legacy of prosperity in Lancaster and the public service he had provided. Yet there was mounting public criticism of Lord Ashton personally after 1895 when, as James Williamson, he was made a life peer, leading to his withdrawal from public life after 1911. James Williamson junior was born in Church Street, Lancaster, on 31 December 1842 and educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. His father (James Williamson senior) had established James Williamson & Sons (hereafter referred to as Williamsons) in 1844, manufacturing coated fabrics. James junior joined the business on leaving school in the mid-1860s and worked there for his entire life, taking full control when his father died in 1879 (LCC 2016). James junior is acknowledged as the driving force behind the rapid growth of Williamsons over thirty-years expanding into floorcloth, blindcloth and, in 1887, cork linoleum, with the ability to emboss, roll and block-print products. He developed the business into a very large undertaking with premises covering twenty- one acres at Lune Mills. By the early 1890s Williamsons employed 2500 workers, increasing to 3000 by 1900 and 4000 by 1911, approximately a quarter of the workforce in Lancaster (LCC 2016; Gooderson 1966, 267). Williamsons sold their products at competitive prices, specialising in the lower end of the market where they had a virtual monopoly in Britain (LCC 2016). Williamsons occupied a large part of James junior’s working life, yet he found time to hold public office, developing a political career culminating in his appointment as Baron Ashton in 1895. He was a local philanthropist, gifting over £500,000 (about £30 million in 2019 money) in gifts, subscriptions and the erection of public buildings (The Times 1930). The Ashton Memorial was the only building that he financed that did not have a practical use and it was entirely his own idea. His political career and philanthropy are summarised in Tables 2 and 3. Williamsons was ranked amongst the largest manufacturing companies in Britain making Lord Ashton one of the richest men in the country leaving an estate of £10,500,000 (about £600–650 million in 2019 money) at his death on 27 May 1930 (LCM 2002a). Position/Role Date 1. Town Councillor, Lancaster 1871–80 2. Justice of the Peace 1881–95 3. High Sheriff of Lancaster 1885 4. Liberal MP, Lancaster 1886–95 5. Peerage, Baron Ashton, of Ashton in the County 1895 Palatine of Lancaster 6. Constable of Lancaster Castle 1921–30 7. Freeman of Lytham 1923 Table 2. Public Offices held by James Williamson jnr (Lord Ashton from 1895) 64 Contrebis 2019 v37 Building/Cause Date Amount (£) 1. Queen Victoria Monument, Dalton Square 2. Lancaster Town Hall 1906–09 155,000 3. Williamson Park Phase 1: 1862–651 Phase 1: Conversion from quarry to parkland during Phase 2: 18771 the Cotton Famine (1861–65) 1881 Williamson Park Phase 2: Driveway and walks created; bridge, lake, gifted to the Corporation waterfall and observatory built of Lancaster Phase 3: Erection of a bandstand, stone shelters, a Phase 3: 1904 temple, a stone bridge, a fountain and a palm house 4. Endowment for the renovation of Williamson Park 1904 10,000 (Phase 3) 5. Ashton Memorial2 1904–09 87,000 6. Ashton Wing of the former County Asylum (Moor 15,000 Hospital) 7. Ashton House at Lancaster Royal Grammar School Details not known 8. Contribution to the building of the Royal Lancaster 1890s 9,600 Infirmary 9. Queen Victoria Hospital Building, Morecambe 1901 Not known 10. Landscaping of Lune Bank Gardens, Skerton, for 1904 1,000 local residents 11. Bought out Corporation Tolls 1887 Not known 12. Paid for the footbridge to the east side of the Carlisle Details not known Railway Bridge 13. Backed the government’s War Loan During World 3,000,000 War 1 Notes: 1 James Williamson snr; all other projects by James Williamson jnr (Lord Ashton). 2 The Queen Victoria Monument was intended for Williamson Park on the site of the Ashton Memorial. Lord Ashton paid for it to be relocated to Dalton Square. Table 3: Selected major philanthropic building projects by the Williamson family The demise of Lord Ashton The elevation of James junior to the peerage in 1895 was the start of a sixteen-year campaign waged against him by various sources that eventually led to his virtual withdrawal from Lancaster public life, excepting his appointment as Constable of Lancaster Castle in 1921 (Table 2). As the Liberal MP for Lancaster, James Williamson had supported Prime Minister Gladstone in the Government of Ireland (‘Home Rule’) Bill of 1893 and financially contributed to Irish causes. Gladstone intended to recommend Williamson for a peerage but resigned in 1894 without making any nominations. Gladstone’s successor, the 5th Earl of Rosebery, who was the leader of the Liberal Imperialist faction of the Liberal Party, resigned in 1895 and included James Williamson in his resignation honours list in response to a written request from Gladstone to honour the arrangement. James Williamson’s peerage led to outspoken criticism from the 8th Duke of Devonshire, the leader of the Liberal Unionist Party, who joined Lord Salisbury’s third government in 1895 as Lord President of the Council. The Duke had become increasingly uneasy about Gladstone’s Irish policies and severed his relationship with Gladstone shortly before Gladstone’s resignation and strongly intimated that Williamson had bought his title in return for substantial contributions to Liberal Party funds, something both Rosebery and Williamson vehemently denied (The Times 65 Contrebis 2019 v37 1930). The sale of honours to rich businessmen and manufacturers anxious to find acceptance in London society was not new, hence the Earl of Rosebery’s insistence on receiving written confirmation from Gladstone (Hanham 1960).