Lord Chancellor (Hugh Cairns, M‘Neile's nephew by marriage) "on this matter", and that Cairns was "very strongly in favour of the appointment". He also indicated to the Queen that, in his view, and regardless of her declared reservations, such an appointment was prudent: "the step … would be favourably received by the High Church party [viz., 'faction'], who feel that the claims of Canon McNeile cannot be overlooked"; and, more significantly, he noted that, if he were to be "overlooked" at this time, the pressures might become such that if he were to be "passed over" at this time, he might well gain an even "higher preferment" than the Dean of Ripon. M‘Neile was hurriedly appointed to the vacancy at Rippon, and was installed on 29 October 1868. He served in that position until he retired due to ill health on 31 October 1875. M‘Neile’s statue Following his installation as the Dean of Ripon (on 29 October 1868), M‘Neile made his last speech in Liverpool on 4 November 1868. A group of his friends and parishioners, "having resolved to erect a full-length marble statue of him in Liverpool, in commemoration of his many valuable and long-continued services in the cause of religion and religious education", announced the next day that they were accepting donations to the Statue Fund, the maximum contributions to which were fixed at £5. In May the following year, the statue committee announced that its target amount had been reached and that an eminent sculptor, George Gammon Adams, had been commissioned to produce the work and that Adams had already had several sittings with M‘Neile. The statue was carved from a pure white 8-ton block of Italian Carrara marble (the same marble as Michelangelo's David). Adams took 18 months to finish the , 3-ton statue; and it was finished in mid-October. On 28 October 1870, the Liverpool Council considered a request from the McNeile Statue Committee "that the statue be accepted for placement in St George’s Hall" (Cavanagh, 1997, p. 281). The suggestion it should place a statue of M‘Neile in such a conspicuous place of honour, "produced an acrimonious discussion"; and, given the fierce objections by a considerable number present, the subject was deferred, for the simple reason that every statue that had been placed in St. George's Hall up to that time, had been accepted by a unanimous vote. At the next meeting, on 9