Herdman Memorial, Belfast City Cemetery, Falls Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT12 6DE

Herdman Memorial, Belfast City Cemetery

An unusually well-executed Egyptian-revivalist stone memorial dating from 1871, designed by architect John Lanyon and built for Alexander Finley Herdman. The memorial stands in the central part of Belfast City Cemetery and forms part of a significant group of listed structures within the cemetery, including the entrance gates, gate lodge, fountains, and other memorials.

The memorial faces north and is constructed in plain ashlar red sandstone. It features engraved slate plaques set within square-headed arches and divided by a single granite column with a Corinthian sandstone capital. Carved upside-down torches ornament the sandstone surround. The structure tapers towards the top, with the name 'Herdman' engraved over the plaques and a projecting coved coping stone bearing a templar cross at its apex. The plot is enclosed by stone walling with square-plan piers bearing carved detail and caps, with corner crenellations.

Context and History

During the nineteenth century Belfast experienced phenomenal population growth, placing severe pressure on existing burial grounds, particularly following outbreaks of cholera and the Great Famine. Shankill and Friar's Bush graveyards, along with the New Burying Ground on Clifton Street, became dangerously overcrowded. In autumn 1865, Belfast Corporation accepted Thomas Sinclair's offer of 101 acres on Falls Road for municipal purposes. The purchase was completed in December 1865 for £12,000 with an annual ground rent of £73 5s. 4d. Forty-five acres were designated as cemetery, with the remainder becoming Falls Park. The Cemetery Committee awarded the contract to design the new cemetery to William Gay of Bradford on 25 January 1867.

Disputes arose during the cemetery's planning regarding provision for Catholic burials. No satisfactory agreement could be reached with Dr Patrick Dorrian, Catholic bishop of Down and Connor, and consequently a separate Catholic cemetery, Milltown, opened a short distance away on the opposite side of Falls Road in November 1869. Belfast City Cemetery (the agreed name from 29 September 1868) opened on 1 August 1869, with first burials three days later.

Alexander Finlay Herdman was born in 1840, the son of John Herdman and Elizabeth Finlay. He became a major figure in Belfast's commercial life, actively involved in the Smithfield Spinning Company founded by his father. He served as town councillor for Smithfield from 1866 and was an active member of Fisherwick Place Presbyterian Church. His wife, Selina Frances, died on 4 May 1870, which apparently prompted him to commission this monument. Herdman himself died at his home, 6 College Square North, on 13 March 1875, aged 34, following a period of ill-health during which he spent time in France seeking recovery. His estate was valued at just under £7,000.

The Cemetery Committee, which retained approval rights over all memorials, accepted the plan for Herdman's monument on 11 July 1870. A fortnight later the Committee agreed to fund the substantial foundations, with the superstructure standing 12½ feet in height, at a cost of £17 12s. 9d. William Gay, who had laid out the cemetery grounds, subsequently expressed concern about the monument's proposed positioning, leading the Committee to direct that it be constructed at the head of the grave plot. This dispute persisted through 1871. The Committee insisted permission would only be granted if the monument was erected in line with other memorials and facing the path. The city's solicitor was instructed to speak with architect John Lanyon, who agreed to approach Herdman. The matter was finally resolved in July 1871 when the Committee accepted Lanyon's proposal for the monument to be supported on back and sides by cemented brick walls 1½ feet in depth and on the front by two railway bars serving as girders.

The monument is described by architectural historians as a rare example of Egyptian Revivalism in Belfast, taking the form of a pylon-tower with a single central column between the antae. The name Gemmell at the base likely refers to D. & J. Gemmell, monumental sculptors based at Wellington Place in Belfast, who probably carried out the work.