Solicitor gets MBE for bringing WWI statue to Ireland for tribute
THE solicitor who brought the Haunting Soldier sculpture to Dublin has been awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Sabina Purcell learned of the honour, which recognises her work on commemorating the First World War and furthering British-Irish relations, last week.
She brought the imposing sculpture of a First World War soldier, standing more than 6m high, to Stephen’s Green in the centre of Dublin in November 2018, where it was displayed for three weeks.
It was visited by thousands of Irish people, many of whom had relatives who took part in the Great War, including health workers.
Ms Purcell is also responsible for compiling a list of 42,000 names of Irish people who returned alive.
Speaking to the MoS this week, she said she was ‘flabbergasted’ by the award.
‘I know someone had to nominate me but I have no idea who that was,’ she said.
‘I first got a letter on December 8 saying that I had been put forward and would I be in favour and then it would have to be approved by HM.
‘Then last Friday, I got the letter saying it had been confirmed and I could tell people.
‘I am so honoured my friends have already been sending me letters with the initials MBE after them!’
Ms Purcell’s interest in the war came when she discovered her grand aunt, nurse Elizabeth
O’Malley, had volunteered for the war.
She set about collecting signatures of all the other people who had returned alive from the war that took place from 1914 to 1918.
This in turn led to her securing permission for the Haunting Soldier sculpture to be borrowed from its English owners and put on public display in Dublin in 2018.
On one afternoon, a crowd of more than 5,000 gathered before it to hear speeches, songs and poems from descendants of those who took part in the war.
The New Zealand rugby team also laid a wreath at the sculpture when it visited Dublin at that time.
Many of the relatives said it was the first time they could honour their dead in public.
’Of course I’m delighted by the MBE but one of the best rewards I had for starting this campaign was when a man said to me that at last he could be proud in public of what his father had done in the Great War,’ Ms Purcell said.
‘He told me his father had returned to an aggressive attitude from Irish people. And of course that was the case for most of the Irish who took part in the war.
‘But thankfully we’ve moved on as a country.’
Ms Purcell is planning a permanent memorial for those who took part in the war.