Editing Edward Carson (section)

== Later years ==

[[File:Cathedral St. Anne Belfast.jpg|thumb|[[St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast|St Anne's Cathedral]]; Carson's final resting place]]

Carson retired in October 1929. In July 1933, during his last visit to Northern Ireland, he witnessed the unveiling of a large statue of himself in front of [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Parliament Buildings]] at [[Stormont Estate|Stormont]].<ref name=":0" /> The statue was sculpted by [[Leonard Stanford Merrifield|L. S. Merrifield]], cast in bronze, and placed upon a plinth. The inscription on the base read "By the [[Ulster loyalism|loyalists of Ulster]] as an expression of their love and admiration for its subject". It was unveiled by [[Lord Craigavon]] in the presence of more than 40,000 people.<ref name="CarsonODNB" />

=== State funeral ===

Lord Carson lived at Cleve Court, a [[Queen Anne Style architecture|Queen Anne]] house near [[Minster-in-Thanet|Minster]] in the [[Isle of Thanet]], [[Kent]], bought in 1921. It was here that Carson died peacefully on 22 October 1935.<ref name=":0" /> Britain gave him a state funeral, which took place in Belfast at [[St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast|St Anne's Cathedral]]; he is still the only person to have been buried there. From a silver bowl, soil from each of the six counties of [[Northern Ireland]] was scattered onto his coffin, which had earlier been covered by the [[Union Flag]], which however was removed during the service. At his funeral service the choir sang his favourite hymn, "[[I Vow to Thee, My Country]]". A warship had brought his body to Belfast and the funeral took place on Saturday 26 October 1935. Thousands of ship workers stopped work and bowed their heads as [[HMS Broke (D83)|HMS ''Broke'']] steamed slowly up [[Belfast Lough]], with Carson's flag-draped coffin sat on the quarterdeck.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Lord Carson's Funeral |department=News |date=28 October 1935 |page=11 |issue=47206 |column=A }}</ref> This would be the last state funeral for a non-member of [[British royal family|the royal family]] until the [[funeral of Winston Churchill]] in 1965.

===Memories===

Even before his death, there was an organized effort to portray Carson as the heroic embodiment of the militant unionist spirit. In November 1932, the new Stormont Parliament became the greatest Carson monument, giving his admirers the symbolic endorsement of their state. His statue was unveiled as the speakers excited the audience with triumphalist images of Protestant deliverance from Catholic tyranny.  Carson's funeral in 1935 was attended with pomp and unionist symbolism, as happened again with the dedication of a plaque in his memory in 1938. Calling for unity with Britain, numerous ceremonial rituals, memorials, and anniversaries affirmed the legitimacy of the state, and the Protestant ascendancy.

<gallery>
File:Solicitor General Ceremonial Dress Uniform.JPG|Carson's ceremonial dress uniform, worn on his appointment as Solicitor General for England in 1900.
File:Carson statue, Parliament Buildings (3) - geograph.org.uk - 693337.jpg|Lord Carson's statue at [[Stormont Estate|Stormont]]
File:Northern Ireland Parliament Buildings - Edward Carson statue.jpg|Edward Carson's statue at Stormont
File:Carson Mural.jpg|Sir Edward Carson mural in Belfast in 2006
File:Carson Poster.jpg|Carson Poster, Belfast, August 2007
</gallery>