Today marks marks 150 years since United States President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth  at The Ford’s Theatre, Washington D.C. He died the following morning, April 15, 1865, at 7.22am.

He is of course commemorated in the centre of Manchester by a statue in Brazenose St, there in someways by accident, sculpted from bronze by George Grey Barnard in 1914, was intended to stand outside the Houses of Parliament, a tribute from the United States marking 100 years of peace between the two countries.

It never appeared in London and was instead sent to Platt Field’s Park in Manchester, intended as a symbol for the city’s support for the North in the civil war against the Confederate South.

Most symbolic of that support in Manchester was John Bright, whose own statue stands not many yards away in Albert Square, who despite seeing his own mill shut as supplies of cotton from the American South were blocked, was fastidious in his support for Lincoln’s ideals, especially supporting the civil rights movement for the freedom of the slaves.

Lincoln was a great admirer of the British politician, indeed he had been invited to the United States on many occasions.More poignantly though, when Lincoln was shot, amongst his possessions in his pocket was a letter from Bright,a testimonial for his re election.

A bust of Bright still resides in the Obama White House, placed in the entrance hall by Jacqui Kennedy, Churchill’s having been removed a few years ago.

Dr Ian Scott, senior lecturer in American Studies at The University of Manchester and an expert on Lincoln, and currently writing a chapter for a new book on the iconic US President, having recently spent time in Illinois studying his residencies and political bases.

He said: “Abraham Lincoln’s assassination remains important in a world even more uncertain and tumultuous than it was in his time and one where heroes and icons are always perceptibly in short supply. In a time of uncertainty, his resolution and purpose seems all the more pertinent in the 21st Century, as much as it did in the 19th.”

“As Obama’s admiration testifies to, Lincoln endures because his legacy is so long and it marks out a leader of vision and even prophecy – he’s famously reported as having dreamt his own death in the days leading up to it – and thus one that is still looked up to as a template for modern political figures.”

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