The Gillespie Monument, The Square, Comber, Co. Down

The Gillespie Monument

A tall and impressive sandstone pillar monument erected in 1844–45 in the centre of The Square in Comber, commemorating Major-General Sir Robert Rollo Gillespie, a distinguished military officer born in the town in 1766. The monument is distinctive as apparently the only public Masonic monument in Ireland.

The structure comprises a stepped sandstone base supporting a tall square pedestal with rectangular panels on each face. The north panel displays Masonic symbols; the south panel bears a military coat of arms; the west panel is inscribed with details of Gillespie's military career; and the east panel was added in 1897 as a memorial to Gillespie's grandson, General Robert Rollo Gillespie, who died in 1890. The pedestal is topped with stepped mouldings and coving, with moulded lettering in capitals to each side of the lower step. Above this rises the tall panelled pillar, its faces inscribed with the names of campaigns and battles in which Gillespie fought, rendered in moulded lettering in capitals. The pillar is crowned with a frieze and cornice, supporting a roughly double life-size statue of Gillespie in ceremonial military dress standing on a round pedestal.

Gillespie was born in Comber in 1766 and originally intended for the legal profession, but joined the army in 1783. He saw distinguished service in the West Indies during the 1790s, achieving the rank of Lieutenant in 1791, Captain in 1793, and Major in 1796, before becoming Lieutenant Colonel of the 20th Regiment of Light Dragoons. From 1805 he served mainly in India and other crown colonies, where he almost single-handedly quelled an uprising of native princes at Vellore. In 1811, after further distinction in Java, he was promoted to Major-General, but was killed in October 1814 leading an attack on the fortress of Kalunga in India. His final words were reportedly "One more shot for the honour of Down". He was buried in India, and Parliament funded a statue of him placed in St Paul's Cathedral, London.

The monument was erected largely through the efforts of local Freemasons, as Gillespie had been received as a Masonic brother in 1783. The foundation stone was laid on St John's Day, 24 June 1844, and the monument was unveiled a year later in the presence of thirty-five lodges, reportedly the largest assembly of Freemasons ever gathered in Ireland. The house in which Gillespie was born, which stood on the south side of The Square, was demolished in 1844, the same year the monument's foundation stone was laid.