Sir James Haslett Memorial, City Hall, Donegall Square, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 5GS

Sir James Haslett Memorial, City Hall, Belfast

A memorial statue of Sir James Horner Haslett, former Lord Mayor of Belfast, carved in white marble and set upon a tall square grey granite plinth with moulded cornice. The statue depicts Haslett standing in a frock coat and beard, wearing his chain of office as Lord Mayor. An inscription is carved into the front face of the pedestal.

The statue was sculpted by Frederick William Pomeroy and unveiled on 19th April 1909 by the Marquess of Londonderry. Haslett, who served as Lord Mayor in 1887-88, was a Conservative MP for North and West Belfast and a leading Orangeman who had accumulated his wealth through importing paraffin oil, earning him the nickname 'Oily Jemmy'. He had been the Lord Mayor responsible for organising the purchase of the City Hall site in 1888. Following his death in August 1905, the commission for his monument was granted to Pomeroy in December of that year. The sculptor executed the work in 1907, having previously collaborated with the City Hall's architect, Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, on the bronze statue of the First Marquis of Dufferin and Ava (1902-06). Pomeroy also designed the marble statue of Robert James McMordie in 1917, making him a sculptor of considerable significance in Belfast's civic iconography.

The statue forms part of a group of high quality memorials within the grounds of Belfast City Hall, one of four similar standing statues of Lord Mayors facing Donegall Place. Originally positioned to the west of the Queen Victoria monument, it was designed to complement Brock's statue of Sir Edward Harland, both being stone statues of similar height and form with the subject resting a hand on a small table. During the 1920s the grounds were rearranged and the Haslett statue was relocated to its current position to the east of the Victoria monument, beside the Harland statue. Cleaning and repair work was undertaken in 1992-93. The memorial sits within a conservation area among buildings of similar date that contribute to the historical context of Donegall Square.