The Political Martyrs monument, Edinburgh
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Old Calton Cemetery
Old Calton Cemetery is a graveyard in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on Calton Hill, to the north-east of the city centre. The burial ground was opened in 1718, and is the resting place of several notable Edinburgh persons, including philosopher David Hume, publisher William Blackwood and...
on Calton Hill, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. It is a tall ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
on a square-plan base plinth
Plinth
In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...
.
The Scottish Martyrs were five men, three of them English, who were imprisoned for campaigning for parliamentary reform
Chartism
Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
in the late 18th and early 19th centuries under the influence of the ideals of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. The five were accused of sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
in a series of trials and transported to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1794 and 1795, with varying sentences. In 1796 Gerrald died from tuburculosis and Skirving from dysentery. In the same year Muir, with the help of a French sailor, had escaped on an American ship, but had some disastrous experiences before finally making his way to revolutionary France. He took part in revolutionary intrigue but died in 1799 of illness and injuries received in his travels to France. Fyshe Palmer and Margarot survived their sentences of 14 years but Fyshe Palmer died of fever while attempting a trading voyage back to England. Only Margarot returned to England.
The monument is in the form of a 90 ft obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
of grey-black sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
blocks, and is inscribed with the names of the five men:-
- Thomas MuirThomas Muir (radical)Thomas Muir was a Scottish political reformer.Muir was the son of James Muir, a hop merchant, and was educated at Glasgow Grammar School, before attending the University of Glasgow to study divinity...
- Thomas Fyshe PalmerThomas Fyshe PalmerThomas Fyshe Palmer was an English-born Unitarian minister, political reformer and political exile.-Early life:Palmer was born in Ickwell, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Henry Fyshe who assumed the added name of Palmer because of an inheritance, and Elizabeth, daughter of James Ingram of...
- William SkirvingWilliam SkirvingWilliam Skirving was one of the five Scottish Martyrs for Liberty. Active in the cause of universal franchise and other reforms inspired by the French Revolution, they were convicted of sedition in 1793-94, and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales.-Early life and farming:William Skirving...
- Maurice MargarotMaurice MargarotMaurice Margarot is most notable for being one of the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, a radical society demanding parliamentary reform in the late eighteenth century.-Early life:...
- and
- Joseph GerraldJoseph GerraldJoseph Gerrald was a political reformer, one of the "Scottish Martyrs".-Early life:Gerrald was born on Saint Kitts, in the West Indies, the only son of an Irish planter. Gerrald was brought to England whilst still a child and educated at Stanmore school, under Dr. Samuel Parr, where he showed...
- Joseph Gerrald
It states it was erected by the Friends of the People society in 1844. It was in 1837 that Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume FRS was a Scottish doctor and Radical MP, born in Montrose, Angus.-Medical career:He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and moved to India in 1797...
MP initiated a plan for a memorial to the Scottish Political Martyrs. On 21 August, 1884, 3000 gathered to see Humne lay the foundation stone. The monument stands in the Old Calton Burial Ground on Calton Hill, a focal point for Scottish national pride.
On February 1852, a second Monument, initiated by Hume, to the Scottish Political Martyrs was unveiled at Nunhead Cemetery
Nunhead Cemetery
Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, England. It is perhaps the least famous and celebrated of them.. The cemetery is located in the Nunhead area of southern London and was originally known as All Saints' Cemetery. Nunhead Cemetery was consecrated in 1840 and...
, London. This monument stands at 33 feet high.