Bobby Sands Memorial, (sculpture).

Bobby Sands Memorial, (sculpture).

High Cross Monument Co., fabricator.

S. L. Zocco Memorials, Inc., contractor.

Bobby Sands Memorial, (sculpture).

May 1997. Dedicated May 5, 1997.

Cross and upper base: approx. 90 x 24 x 7 1/2 in.; Cross: approx. H. 66 in.; Lower base: approx. 7 1/2 x 30 x 20 in.

(On front of base:) BOBBY/SANDS/1981 (text in Gaelic for Our Day will Come) (Names incised on back of base:) FRANCIS HUGHES/RAYMOND McCREESH/PATSY O'HARA/JOE McDONNELL/MARTIN HURSON/KEVEN LYNCH/KIERAN DOHERTY/THOMAS McELWEE/MICKY DEVINE (Lettering in sword above:) FREEDOM (On north side of base:) FRANK/STAGG (On south side of base:) MICHAEL/GAUGHAN unsigned

A granite Celtic cross set on a two-tiered base. On the base is a sword. The monument stands on a raised mound, in planted setting. The plants in the front are arranged in the form of the flag of Ireland.

Emblem -- Cross

Homage -- Sands, Bobby

Homage -- Hughes, Francis

Homage -- McCreesh, Raymond

Homage -- O'Hara, Patsy

Homage -- McDonnell, Joe

Homage -- Hurson, Martin

Homage -- Lynch, Kevin

Homage -- Doherty, Kieran

Homage -- McElwee, Thomas

Homage -- Devine,Micky

Homage -- Stagg,Frank

Homage -- Gaughan, Michael

History -- Ireland

Ethnic -- Irish

History -- Great Britain

Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Hartford

Administered by Irish Northern Aid Society, 40 Russ Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Located Bobby Sands Circle, Near 953 Maple Avenue, at intersection of Maple & Freeman streets, Hartford, Connecticut 06106

The Bobby Sands Memorial is a monument to the famous hunger strike of 1981, in which 10 Irish Republic Army men starved themselves to death in a Belfast prison. The purpose of the strike was to establish the status of the men as political prisoners rather than common criminals. The ten men in Long Kesh prison included a draper's assistant, a mechanic, an upholsterer, and a milkman. The names of nine are listed on the back of the monument's upper base in the order of their death. The name of the tenth, Bobby Sands, who was elected to the Parliament during the hunger strike is on front. He died on May 5, 1981, after 66 days of starvation. The two men named on the sides of the base died in hunger strikes in Britain in 1976 and 1976.

Groups of Irish Americans in sympathy with the Republican cause sent money to Ireland for support of the families of the prisoners. To commemorate the strike, the local unit of the Irish Northern Aid Society raised $10,000 by special events and personal contributions to defray the cost of the Hartford memorial. Councilman John B. O'Connell introduced the motion in the Hartford Court of Common Council for the city to accept the memorial. The memorial was dedicated on May 5, 1997 (May 4th being the anniversary of Sand's death). Sand's sister, Marcella Sands Kelly, was present for the occasion.

The memorial was supplied by the High Cross Monument Company of Texas, installed by S. L. Zocco Memorials, Inc., of Hartford, and the surrounding plantings were done by Paul Condon of the Parks Department, Elizabeth Park staff.

For further reading, see: David Beresford, "Ten Men Dead: the story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Srike," NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989.

State of Connecticut Historical Commission, 2003.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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