Nelson’s Pillar - Vandals, not nationalists

WHEN Britain’s Queen Elizabeth came to Cork, in 2011, as part of her official visit to Ireland, she was shown a statue of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, a locally made sculpture that once graced the highest gable of Queen’s University Cork, now University College Cork.

John A Murphy, retired professor of history at UCC, related to her the strange tale of how the statue, considered an affront to nationalist sensibilities, was removed from its plinth and buried in the grounds of the college.

Some observers wondered why the statue had not been destroyed. John A was used to such inquiries. His response: “Because they were nationalists, not vandals.”