The Hatfield War Memorial is a war memorial beside the Great North Road in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. It was one of 24 war memorials in England designed by Sir Herbert Baker, that were designated as a national collection by Historic England in 2017. The memorial is located near the gates of Hatfield House, and close to Hatfield railway station. It was unveiled in 1921, to commemorate 139 men from Hatfield killed on service during the First World War. A brick pavilion records the names of the dead, with further names added after the Second World War.
The memorial comprises a Portland stone memorial cross, standing within a garden surrounded by brick walls to the north, west and south sides, and a yew hedge to the east, with an entrance gate in the wall to the south. Portland stone tablets with dedications listing the names of the dead are located in a brick shelter pavilion to the north side of the garden.
The memorial cross is a typical Baker design, with an octagonal cross section, standing on an octagonal base. Baker had proposed a similar design of memorial cross to the Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission), but a different design by Sir Reginald Blomfield was selected instead: the Cross of Sacrifice familiar at many CWGC cemeteries. Baker used versions of his cross in many of the municipal war memorials that he was commissioned to design after the First World War. He was also responsible for the design of 113 cemeteries on the Western Front, including Tyne Cot, Delville Wood South African National Memorial and Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial.
The central wheel-headed Latin cross is decorated with roses and lilies representing England and France. It stands on an octagonal shaft and simple octagonal plinth, surrounded by a small octagonal pavement, in the centre of a grass lawn. A rectangular pavilion constructed of red brick stands to the north side of the garden, with three round-headed arches facing towards the cross in the south; the arches were later closed by metal railings. The hipped roof of the pavilion is covered with clay tiles, and the brick floor is laid in a herringbone pattern. The solid side and rear walls bear stone plaques with dedications and lists of names. Baker used similar brick shelters at other memorials, including some for the CWGC on the Western Front.
The Portland stone plaques commemorate the 139 servicemen from Hatfield killed during the First World War. The names of a further 58 men and women were added after the Second World War, along with 34 civilians killed in the 503 bombing raids that affected the area, many targeting the de Havilland aircraft factory nearby .
The memorial was built on land to the east of the Great North Road, near the gates leading to Hatfield House. The site was donated by James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury. Construction cost £1,500. The memorial was unveiled on 12 June 1921 by Thomas Brand, 3rd Viscount Hampden (the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, who had commanded a battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment) and dedicated by the Bishop of Exeter Lord William Cecil (the younger brother of the 4th Marquess). The names of the dead were read out at the ceremony by Lord Salisbury.
The names of a further 58 men and women were added after the Second World War, along with the names of 34 civilians killed in the 503 bombing raids in the district. Two further names were added in 2014. The memorial was repaired in 1998. The main column was heavily weathered by 2013, and it was replaced in 2015.
The memorial became a Grade II* listed building in May 2017. Nearby are the Grade II listed gates leading to the Grade I listed Hatfield House and its Grade I listed park, and a Grade II listed statue of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times.
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, and 39,201 at the 2011 Census. The settlement is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, home of the Marquess of Salisbury, forms the nucleus of the old town. From the 1930s when de Havilland opened a factory until the 1990s when British Aerospace closed it, aircraft design and manufacture employed more people there than any other industry. Hatfield was one of the post-war New Towns built around London and has much modernist architecture from the period. The University of Hertfordshire is based there.
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I. It is a prime example of Jacobean architecture. The estate includes extensive grounds and surviving parts of an earlier palace. The house is currently the home of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury. It is open to the public.
Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over the last two centuries, particularly the 3rd Marquess, who served three times as Prime Minister in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Robert Michael James Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury, Baron Gascoyne-Cecil,, is a British Conservative politician. From 1979 to 1987 he represented South Dorset in the House of Commons, and in the 1990s he was Leader of the House of Lords under his courtesy title of Viscount Cranborne. Lord Salisbury lives in one of England's largest historic houses, the 17th-century Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, and currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire.
James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury,, known as Viscount Cranborne from 1868 to 1903, was a British statesman.
Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury,, known as Viscount Cranborne from 1903 to 1947, was a British Conservative politician.
Sir Herbert Baker was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He was born and died at Owletts in Cobham, Kent.
Mary Alice Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was a British courtier who served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to 1967. She was the granddaughter of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.
James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury,, styled Viscount Cranborne until 1780 and known as The Earl of Salisbury between 1780 and 1789, was a British nobleman and politician.
Chatham Naval Memorial is a large obelisk situated in the town of Chatham, Kent, which is in the Medway Towns. The memorial is a feature of the Great Lines Heritage Park. The huge expanse of the Great Lines was in its own right a layer of defence to protect Chatham Dockyard from attack.
St Helen's Church is in the village of Tarporley, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is united with those of St John and Holy Cross, Cotebrook, St Thomas, Eaton, and St Paul, Utkinton. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
The English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, made up of the formerly separate Boroughs of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, has a wide range of cemeteries throughout its urban area. Many were established in the mid-19th century, a time in which the Victorian "cult of death" encouraged extravagant, expensive memorials set in carefully cultivated landscapes which were even recommended as tourist attractions. Some of the largest, such as the Extra Mural Cemetery and the Brighton and Preston Cemetery, were set in particularly impressive natural landscapes. Brighton and Hove City Council, the local authority responsible for public services in the city, manages seven cemeteries, one of which also has the city's main crematorium. An eighth cemetery and a second crematorium are owned by a private company. Many cemeteries are full and no longer accept new burials. The council maintains administrative offices and a mortuary at the Woodvale Cemetery, and employs a coroner and support staff.
The County War Memorial, Nottingham is a Grade II listed structure in Nottingham.
The Cavalry of the Empire Memorial, also known as the Cavalry Memorial, is a war memorial in Hyde Park, London. It commemorates the service of cavalry regiments in the First and Second World Wars. It became a Grade II listed building in 1987, and was promoted to Grade II* in November 2014.
Spalding War Memorial is a First World War memorial in the gardens of Ayscoughfee Hall in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in eastern England. It was designed by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. The proposal for a memorial to Spalding's war dead originated in January 1918 with Barbara McLaren, whose husband and the town's Member of Parliament, Francis McLaren, was killed in a flying accident during the war. She engaged Lutyens via a family connection and the architect produced a plan for a grand memorial cloister surrounding a circular pond, in the middle of which would be a cross. The memorial was to be built in the formal gardens of Ayscoughfee Hall, which was owned by the local district council. When McLaren approached the council with her proposal, it generated considerable debate within the community and several alternative schemes were suggested. After a public meeting and a vote in 1919, a reduced-scale version of McLaren's proposal emerged as the preferred option, in conjunction with a clock on the town's corn exchange building.
Ashwell War Memorial is a war memorial cross in the village of Ashwell in North Hertfordshire, England. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1922, one of 15 war crosses designed by Lutyens to similar designs erected between 1920 and 1925. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Winchester College War Cloister is a war memorial at Winchester College, in Hampshire, designed by the architect Sir Herbert Baker. The roofed quadrangle is said by Historic England to be the largest known private war memorial in Europe. It became a Grade II listed building in 1950, and was upgraded to Grade I in 2017, as one of 24 war memorials in England designed by Baker that were designated by Historic England as a national collection.
The Dulwich College War Memorial is located at the eastern front of Dulwich College on College Road in Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark. It commemorates the alumni of the college who died in both the First and Second World Wars. The memorial was designed by W. H. Atkin-Berry, an alumnus of the college. It was unveiled on 17 June 1921, the Dulwich College Founder's Day, by Major General Sir Webb Gillman, and dedicated by the Dean of Durham, James Welldon. Gillman was an alumnus of the college, and Welldon had served as Master of Dulwich College from 1883 to 1885. It has been Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England since May 2010. The heritage listing places the memorial within a "visual and contextual relationship" with the Grade II* listed Main College building.
Blackmoor War Memorial is a First World War memorial cloister in Blackmoor, near Liss, in Hampshire. The memorial stands on the north side of the main road, with the Church of St Matthew to the east and the village school to the west. It was designed by Sir Herbert Baker, and comprises a three-sided wood-framed arcade, open to the south, arranged around lawn with a memorial cross. Several memorial plaques and a fountain by Sir Charles Wheeler are mounted on the walls of the arcade. It is one of around 130 Grade II* listed war memorials in England.
A statue of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, stands outside the gates leading to the north side of Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.