Commissioning
Following the end of the First World War, Brighton Borough Council formed a Peace Celebration and War Memorial Subcommittee. In 1920, the subcommittee called a public meeting to discuss plans for a permanent war memorial. As in many places, suggestions were put forward for a practical scheme, including an orphanage, but these were ruled out because, in the subcommittee's view, they "did not meet the most essential requirements of a war memorial, ie embodying in a permanent form the sacrifices of those who have fallen or suffered on account of the war". [2]
The subcommittee approached the architect John William Simpson. Simpson was born in Brighton and his father, Thomas Simpson, was a well-known local architect. The younger Simpson was responsible for several works in the town, including the The Bugler, the Royal Sussex Regiment's Boer War Memorial (1904) on the seafront. [2] [3] [4] The subcommittee allocated Simpson a budget of £5,000, which it later reduced to £3,000. Another local architect, John Leopold Denman, submitted a design to the subcommittee but this was rejected on cost grounds. Simpson's plans were displayed in Brighton Art Gallery in 1921 for public feedback, which was favourable, especially given the architect's local connections. [2]
In the same year, the subcommittee opened a subscription fund to pay for the memorial, starting with direct appeals to local residents and businesses. A collecting box was placed on the chosen site on the Old Steine and, at the end of 1921, an outline model of the proposed design was placed next to it. The chosen site was occupied by the statue of George IV (erected in 1828), which was moved to a position close to the North Gate of the Royal Pavilion, just to the west, to make way for the memorial. [2]
Design
The memorial consists of a colonnade and a reflecting pool with a fountain in the centre. It stands in Old Steine Gardens, on the Old Steine, the meeting point of the main roads into Brighton. It is just east of the Royal Pavilion and close to several other war memorials and other monuments. It is in Italianate style, based on a Roman water garden. [2] [5] The colonnade is at the north end of the pool and is 3.2 metres (10 feet) deep and 11 metres (36 feet) long. Built in Portland stone, it has four sides and is stepped back to form a U shape. At the centre is a rectangular stone panel between the columns, surmounted by a dome and resembling a temple, which brings it to a height of 4 metres (13 feet). An altar table is built into the temple. The recessed part of the colonnade is flanked by two free-standing Portland stone pillars covered in bronze tablets which bear the names of the dead. The water represents the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy while the memorial gardens represent the British Army and the Royal Air Force. [2]
The main dedication is on the back of the temple, facing north: "We cheered you forth noble and kind and brave / under your country's triumphing flag you fell / it floats true hearts over quiet grave / brave and noble and kind hail and farewell". Around the tops of the pillars, above the names, is the inscription: "A good life hath / its number of days / but a good name shall / continue for ever. A bronze plaque, added to the temple at a later date, reads: "This memorial is dedicated to the service men and women of Brighton who gave their lives in the First World War 1914–1918, the Second World War (1939–1945), and subsequent campaigns. Their names are recorded in the book of remembrance in the parish church of St Peter". The names of several theatres of the First World War are carved into the front of the temple, facing the pool, and above these is carved Brighton's coat of arms. [2]
The architectural elements are surrounded by a rose garden, designed by the borough council's parks and gardens department at the same time. [2]
History
The memorial was unveiled at a ceremony on 7 October 1922 by Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty. [2] [4] The ceremony was presided over by the mayor and attended by the full borough council in their robes of office. [6] Beatty was given the Freedom of the Borough of Brighton on the same day. [4]
Just north of the memorial, still in Old Steine Gardens, is the Egyptian Campaign Memorial (erected 1888), an obelisk which commemorates the Royal Sussex Regiment's casualties from two conflicts in North Africa in the 1880s. Behind that is a pink granite slab (installed in 2010) dedicated to all citizens of Brighton, Hove, and Portslade killed in conflict or peacekeeping operations since 1945. [2] [5] [4]
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