Springhill Cenotaph

Erected by the citizens of Springhill after the First World War in honour of the local war dead, the beautiful Soldiers' Monument was officially unveiled on August 4, 1929. Mrs Annie Goldrich, who lost three sons in the war, unveiled the monument. The guard stood at the present and Bugler Young sounded the "Last Post".

The committee appointed to the Soldiers' Monument consisted of: Joseph Potter, Bruce Hyatt, Harry Moore, Oscar Goldrich, Harry Slater, Roach McKay, John Hannah, C.E. MacKenzie and William Cliffee. Giving much assistance and advice to this committee was Mr. R.B. Murray. The total cost for the monument was $4,953.69.

The total weight of the monument is 59 tons. Thirty-five tons of cement was put into the foundation, the first two stones weigh four tons, the main stone weighs eight tons and the next one three and one-half tons. The wings weigh three tons each and the statue about two and a half tons. Construction was handled by J.A. Tingley and Company of Amherst. The statue was made in Italy of Carrara marble.

Emanuel Hahn's design represents the sorrows caused by war. The soldier atop the cenotaph looks down in sadness at the ground below him, as if he might find there, his fallen comrades, if not for the tragedy of war.

The statue depicts a young, grieving Canadian soldier in First World War army uniform. He is standing at a battlefield grave – a simple cross with poppies and a broken chain at the base and the flag draped behind it – the final resting place of a comrade killed in action. His left hand rests on the cross, while his right hand holds a reversed rifle. His helmet is slung over his shoulder.

The Cenotaph was expanded after the Second World War to include a commemoration of the local war dead of that conflict and again after the Korean War. In 2013, the John Hopkins Committee raised money to restore the cenotaph. A new cement base was added and the wings were sent to the Annapolis Valley to be redone. At this time one name was added on the inscription - Private Harold C. Harrison.

Emanuel Hahn moved to Toronto at the age of seven with his family of artists and musicians from Germany, in 1888. He studied commercial design and model-making at Toronto Technical School and Ontario College of Art and Industrial Design. At 25 years old Hahn began a nearly lifelong contract with Thomson Monument Company of Toronto. Two years later, he also started work as a studio assistant to sculptor Walter Seymour Allward. Part of his duties included assisting on Allward’s significant works such as the South African War Memorial in Toronto.

In 1912 Hahn began an association with the Thomson Monument Company of Toronto. It was there, along with several assistants, he made the many war memorials that are found across Canada: Fernie, British Columbia; Killarney and Russell, Manitoba; Alvinston, Bolton, Cornwall, Hanover, Lindsay,  Malvern, Milton, Petrolia and Port Dalhousie, Ontario; Gaspe, Quebec; Moncton, New Brunswick; Springhill and Westville Nova Scotia; Summerside, Prince Edward Island.

Hahn is probably most famous as the designer of the Bluenose on the back of the Canadian dime and the Caribou on the back of the Canadian quarter. He was a victim of anti-German sentiment in the years following the Great War, when his design for the Winnipeg Cenotaph was rejected in 1925.

[front/devant]
IN FLANDERS FIELD

1914   1918

THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD. AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING
WE WELL REMEMBER THEM.

TO COMMEMORATE THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF THE
MEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES AND SERVICES
FOR KING AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WARS
1914 — 1918
1939 — 1945

ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF SPRINGHILL, NOVA SCOTIA

(left/gauche)
BARRETT ALEXANDER
BOSS OSCAR J
BOYLE JOSEPH B
BRACLEY JOHN
BROWN JOHN
BROWN JOSEPH B
BROWN ROBERT R
BROWN WALLACE
BUCHANAN JOHN
BURNLEY FRANK
CAMERON SAMUEL
CHAPMAN PERCY
COATES ROBERT
COLEMAN DAVID
COOK ALBERT
COOK HERBERT
CORMIER ALFRED
CROSSON JOHN
CUMMINGS JOHN
DAVIS HARRY
DEAN HARRY
FAULDS JAMES
FOSTER ALEXANDER
FOSTER EARL
FOWLER RALPH
FRASER A.D.
FRASER JOHN
FRASER ROBERT
GILROY LLOYD
GOLDRICH ARTHUR
GOLDRICH WALTER
GOODWIN ALONZO
GREEN JOHN
GREGORY JOHN
GUTHRO HERBERT
HARVEY CHARLES
HENNESEY JOHN
HOWARD ROY
HYATT ELVIN
JONES MURRAY

(right/droit)
LETCHER GRANVILLE
LETCHER HARRY
LIGHT RICHARD
MARCHALL JOHN
MEADES HENRY
MEEKINS JAMES
MILBURN WILLIAM
MURPHY HAROLD
MCBURNEY TENNIS
MACDONALD ROBERT
MCDONALD R.A., M.M.
MCDONALD SAMUEL
MACINNIS JAMES M.M.
MACINNIS JOHN
MCKAY ARCHIE
MCLEOD COLIN D.C.M.
MCLEOD JOHN
MCPHEE JAMES
MCPHERSON ALLEN
MCPERSON MATTHEW
OULTON DOUGLAS
PAUL HERBERT
PIERCE N.F.
PRICE BASIL
PRICE JOHN
ROACH WILLIAM
ROBERTSON PETER V.C.
RONAN EDWARD
SCOTT ALBERT
STERLING GEORGE
SUTHERLAND GEORGE
TERRIS DELBERT
TERRIS GARDNER
TERRIS GUY
WELSH ARTHUR
WHITE PHILIP
WILSON ANDREW
WILSON LAWRENCE
WRIGHT COLIN
REA ARTHUR

[left side/côté gauche]
1939   1945
ASHE RAYMOND
ATKINSON G EARL
AUSTIN C M
AMON EVERETT
BICKLE FREDERICK
BARRETT JAMES R
BROWN ERNEST M
BROWN LORNE
BROWN EARL
CHANDLER JOHN
CAMERON GORDON
COOK ERNEST
CALDER REGINALD
CUMMINGS M J
CHISHOLM DANIEL
DAVIS GEORGE
DORT DAVID
DORRINGTON DOUGLAS
ELLIOTT DONALD
GILROY ROSS
HARTLEY JAMES
DHOARE DENNIS
HALL ROBER T JR
JAMES HAROLD
LETCHER WILLIAM G
LESLIE LOGAN
LOWTHER WILLIAM
RLIVINGSTONE W H
LEWIS SIDNEY C

[right side/côté droit]
1939   1945
MACKENZIE DONALD M C
MCLAUGHLIN ROBERT B
MCKAY ARCHIE
MACALONEY BENJAMIN
MADDISON LEROY
MACKEY DENNIS
OAKLEY WILLIAM
O'BRIEN DONALD
PRICE DONALD
POWELL GEORGE
PEPPERDINE TRUEMAN
PATRIQUIN HAROLD V
ROBLEE LLOYD
RECTOR CARL
RASMUSSEN VERNON
RUSHTON IVAN
RIPLEY ROYCE
SUMARA ALBION
STONE JOHN I
SWEENEY JOHN
SKIDMORE FRED V
TOWER WALTER
THOMAS DAVID M
TAYLOR FRANCIS H
VICKERY ROY
WEATHERBEE DOUGLAS
WILSON IRVING C
YOUNG CLYDE T

1950   1953
SPENCE DONALD
TURNBULL RALPH F
HARRISON HAROLD C

[back/arrière]
IN FLANDERS FIELDS

IN FLANDERS FIELDS THE POPPIES BLOW
BETWEEN THE CROSSES, ROW ON ROW.
THAT MARK OUR PLACE
AND IN THE SKY THE LARKS, STILL BRAVELY SINGING, FLY
SCARCE HEARD AMID THE GUNS BELOW.

WE ARE THE DEAD, SHORT DAYS AGO
WE LIVED, FELT DAWN, SAW SUNSET GLOW,
LOVED AND WERE LOVED, AND NOW WE LIE,
IN FLANDERS FIELDS.

TAKE UP OUR QUARREL WITH THE FOE

TO YOU FROM FAILING HANDS WE THROW
THE TORCH: BE YOURS TO HOLD IT HIGH.
IF YE BREAK FAITH WITH US WHO DIE
WE SHALL NOT SLEEP THOUGH POPPIES GROW
IN FLANDERS FIELDS.