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The Bank of England War Memorial, in the internal Garden Court at the headquarters of the Bank of England in the City of London, commemorates the bank's staff who were killed while serving in the First World War and Second World War. It includes a bronze sculpture by Richard Reginald Goulden portraying Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child. It became a Grade II listed building in 2017. The surrounding buildings of the bank are separately listed at Grade I.
A memorial committee of long-serving bank staff was established in November 1918 to raise funds for a war memorial. Suggestions were made to spend the funds on a variety of different projects, such as a memorial chapel, a memorial library and hall, almshouses, the endowment of university scholarships, or a stained glass window at a nearby church. The committee decided on three memorials: a memorial service at Southwark Cathedral on 12 April 1919, endowing a bed at Guy's Hospital, and commissioning a memorial cross at the bank. These plans were approved by the bank's court of directors.
After initially donating £1,000 in June 1919 to fund a bed at Astley Cooper Ward, a surgical accident ward at Guy's Hospital, the bank continued to raise funds for the hospital from 1919 to 1944, providing over £30,000 to endow an entire ward of 26 beds, Christopher Ward. The bank's St Christopher Health Fund still continues to fund medical treatment for bank staff.
Successful fundraising allowed the committee to recommend a more ambitious memorial structure than the intended memorial cross. The committee approached Sir George Frampton, and he introduced them to Richard Reginald Goulden as a promising sculptor. Goulden was commissioned to design and make the memorial sculpture. Goulden's first design was approved by the committee but rejected by the bank's court of directors, but his second design, portraying St Christopher carrying the Holy Child, was accepted. The design reflected the location, as the bank's garden was the site of the church of St Christopher le Stocks until it was demolished in 1781, and Saint Christopher is the bank's patron saint; and it also reflects the spirit of service and self-sacrifice embodied by Saint Christopher. The materials for the sculpture cost £750, with a payment to Goulden of £105. A further fundraising gathered £300 to inscribe the names of the war dead at the base of the statue.
Goulden's lifesize bronze statue portrays a man standing on a rock, carrying a child on his shoulder. They man and child are holding hands, with the man wearing only a loincloth, and the child similarly naked. The group represents Saint Christopher at the edge of a stream, carrying the Christ Child. An inscription around the bottom of the rock reads: TO THE COMRADES / WHO, AT DUTY'S CALL, CROSSED THE DARK WATERS TO / THE FURTHER SHORE 1914–1919.
The sculpture is mounted on a large rectangular block of Portland stone as a plinth, on three stone steps. Set into the front of the plinth is a bronze cross, and the other three sides of the plinth each bear a bronze plaque listing the 71 names of the bank's war dead. The statue on its plinth stands around 10 ft (3.0 m) tall.
The sculpture was unveiled by the Governor of the Bank of England Montagu Norman in a prominent position in the Bank's garden, in an open internal courtyard, at a short ceremony at 4pm on 11 November 1921, at which it was dedicated by the Archdeacon of London Ernest Holmes, with two bandsmen from the Grenadier Guards playing the Last Post and Reveille.
A new committee was established in 1945 to commission elements to commemorate the war dead from the Second World War, again using funds raised from the staff donations. Rather than commissioning a new monument, modest elements were added to the existing memorial by Alexander Scott: set into the paving before the sculpture is a circular raised bronze plaque about 3 ft (0.91 m) in diameter, inscribed with a wreath around the words: TO THE / MEMORY / OF THOSE WHO / CROSSED THE / SAME WATERS / 1939–1945. The memorial was rededicated on 20 October 1948 at a ceremony attended by the Bank's Governor Thomas Catto, 1st Baron Catto, the Bishop of Stepney Robert Moberly, and by the former Governor Montagu Norman.
It is visible from the Bank's entrance hall, and the offices that surround it. The names of the bank's staff who served in the First World War are also inscribed in the entrance hall, with the dead marked with red crosses, opposite the names of the 65 war dead from the Second World War. Several of the bank's war dead are also commemorated by bronze plaques in other buildings that were Bank of England offices, in Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle,
The memorial became a Grade II listed building in 2017.
Richard Reginald Goulden (1876–1932) was a British sculptor operational in the early 20th century.
Widnes War Memorial stands in Victoria Park, Widnes, Cheshire, England. It commemorates the serving men who lost their lives in the two world wars. The memorial consists of an obelisk in Portland stone on a plinth of York stone. It was unveiled in 1921, and more names were added in 1950. The monument is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
Moulton War Memorial stands in Main Road, Moulton, Cheshire, England. It consists of a marble statue of a soldier standing on a sandstone pedestal, and is surrounded by a wrought iron fence. The memorial was designed by Samuel Welsby, and unveiled in 1920. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
The Port Sunlight War Memorial stands in a central position in the model village of Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, England. The founder of the village and employer of its residents, William Lever, was anxious to have a memorial to commemorate those of his workers who had been lost in the First World War. As early as 1916 he commissioned Goscombe John to design a war memorial, which was completed and unveiled in 1921 by two of his employees. It consists of a granite runic cross with bronze statues and reliefs and has the theme "Defence of the Realm". On the memorial are the names of all of the company's employees who died as a result of both World Wars. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
The Imperial Camel Corps Memorial is an outdoor sculpture commemorating the Imperial Camel Corps, located in Victoria Embankment Gardens, on the Thames Embankment to the east of Charing Cross station, in London, England. The unit of mounted infantry was created in December 1916 from troops that had served in the Gallipoli campaign in the Dardanelles.
The London Troops War Memorial, located in front of the Royal Exchange in the City of London, commemorates the men of London who fought in World War I and World War II.
Lewes War Memorial is a war memorial at the top of School Hill in the centre of Lewes in East Sussex, prominently sited at the junction of High Street and Market Street. It commemorates 251 men from Lewes who died in the First World War, and 126 who died in the Second World War. It was unveiled in 1922 and became a listed building in 1985.
Oldham War Memorial is a war memorial in Oldham, England, comprising a large bronze sculpture group on a granite plinth. It was built to commemorate the men of Oldham who were killed in the First World War. Bronze plaques on the wall of the churchyard nearby list the fallen, including Mabel Drinkwater, a nurse who died after an operation at Oldham Royal Infirmary. A mechanised roll of honour was added in the 1950s, listing the men from Oldham who were killed in the Second World War. The memorial became a Grade II listed building in 1973. The listing was upgraded to Grade II* in December 2016.
Mells War Memorial is a First World War memorial by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the village of Mells in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, south-western England. Unveiled in 1921, the memorial is one of multiple buildings and structures Lutyens designed in Mells. His friendship with two prominent families in the area, the Horners and the Asquiths, led to a series of commissions; among his other works in the village are memorials to two sons—one from each family—killed in the war. Lutyens toured the village with local dignitaries in search of a suitable site for the war memorial, after which he was prompted to remark "all their young men were killed".
Trumpington War Memorial is a war memorial cross in the village of Trumpington, on the southern outskirts of Cambridge. The memorial was designed by Eric Gill. It was unveiled in 1921, and became a Grade II* listed building in 1999.
St Saviour's War Memorial is a war memorial on Borough High Street, in the former parish of Southwark St Saviour, to south of the River Thames in London. It became a Grade II listed building in 1998 and was upgraded to Grade II* in 2018.
Hove War Memorial is a First World War memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and located on Grand Avenue in Hove, part of the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. Hove was the site of one of the earliest recruiting events at the beginning of the war and later of several military hospitals. Over 600 men from the town were killed during the war, a quarter of them from the local regiment alone. A war memorial committee was established in 1919 and Lutyens was engaged as architect. A design was agreed in 1920 after two unsuccessful proposals; Lutyens chose the site from several options.
Fordham War Memorial is a First World War memorial in the village of Fordham in Cambridgeshire in eastern England. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens with sculpture by Sir George Frampton and closely resembles Hove War Memorial in East Sussex, which was also a collaboration between Lutyens and Frampton. It was unveiled in 1921 and is today a grade II listed building.
Streatham War Memorial is a war memorial to the war dead of the London district of Streatham in the two World Wars. It was unveiled in 1922, and is sited near the northwest corner of Streatham Common, London Borough of Lambeth, England.
Twickenham War Memorial, in Radnor Gardens, Twickenham, London, commemorates the men of the district of Twickenham who died in the First World War. After 1945, the memorial was updated to recognise casualties from the Second World War. The memorial was commissioned by Twickenham Urban District Council in 1921. It was designed by the sculptor Mortimer Brown, and is Brown's only significant public work. The memorial is unusual for its representation of a jubilant soldier returning home. It became a Grade II* listed structure in 2017.
Kingston upon Thames War Memorial, in the Memorial Garden on Union Street, Kingston upon Thames, London, commemorates the men of the town who died in the First World War. After 1945, the memorial was updated to recognise casualties from the Second World War. The memorial was commissioned by the town council and was designed by the British sculptor Richard Reginald Goulden. The memorial includes a bronze statue of a nude warrior, carrying a flaming cross and wielding a sword with which he defends two children from a serpent, erected on a granite plinth, with bronze plaques listing the names of the dead. Goulden designed a number of such allegorical memorials, including others at Crompton, Greater Manchester, and Redhill, Surrey. The Kingston memorial was designated a Grade II listed structure in 1983. This was revised upwards in 2016 to Grade II*, denoting a building or structure of particular importance.
The Margaret MacDonald Memorial is a sculpture by Richard Reginald Goulden, beside the path at the north edge of the public park at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. It became a grade II listed structure in 1974.
A memorial to the Russian Tsar Peter the Great was erected in London in 2000 to commemorate the tercentenary of the Grand Embassy of Peter the Great. It stands at on Glaisher Street, in a corner of Deptford within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, beside the confluence of the River Thames and Deptford Creek.
The Burton upon Trent war memorial commemorates those from the town that were killed in the First and Second World Wars. The memorial was commissioned by the county borough of Burton upon Trent from sculptor Henry Charles Fehr shortly after the end of the First World War. The finished memorial was unveiled by William Legge, 6th Earl of Dartmouth on 2 August 1922. Its principal figure is that of Victory, standing atop a pedestal that is flanked by the smaller figures of Saint George and Peace. The memorial is a grade II* listed building.
The Pearl Assurance War Memorial, also known as the Pearl Centre War Memorial, is a First World War memorial, designed by George Frampton for the Pearl Assurance Company. Erected in London in 1921, it was moved to Peterborough in 1991. It became a Grade II* listed building in 2019.