Kingston upon Thames War Memorial | |
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United Kingdom | |
For men from the town of Kingston upon Thames who died in the First and Second World Wars | |
Unveiled | 1923 |
Location | 51°24′37″N0°18′18″W / 51.4104°N 0.305°W |
Designed by | Richard Reginald Goulden |
IN HONOUR OF THE MEN OF THIS TOWN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WARS 1914–1919, 1939–1945. | |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | Kingston upon Thames War Memorial |
Designated | 6 October 1983 |
Reference no. | 1080054 |
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 town of Kingston upon Thames received its first charter in 1200. It retains close links to its historic county, Surrey, although it is now the administrative centre for the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, a borough of Greater London. [1] During the First World War, the borough librarian began to maintain a record of the men from the town killed in the conflict and, at the war's end in 1919, the borough corporation determined to commemorate the dead by commissioning a memorial. [2]
After a period of discussion of the nature and site of the memorial, the commission was awarded to Richard Reginald Goulden [3] in 1920. [4] [5] Goulden himself fought in the war, as a captain in the Royal Engineers until he was invalided out in 1916. He had trained as a sculptor at the Dover School of Art and at the National Art Training School, followed by a pre-war career as a teacher and artist. [6] In 1920 he won a commission to design the Bank of England War Memorial to commemorate the staff of the Bank of England who had died in the war. [7] His chosen subject was St Christopher carrying a child, and this allegorical approach, which Historic England terms manhood defending, became a regular motif in his work, as it is at Kingston. [2]
In addition to the memorials at Kingston and at the Bank of England, Goulden designed at least nine other war memorials in the 1920s, with other examples in or near London including Middlesex Guildhall, St Michael Cornhill, Hornsey and Redhill, and further afield at Brightlingsea, Dover, Malvern, Crompton, and Gateshead. Five (Crompton, Dover, Kingston, Redhill, and St Michael Cornhill) are listed at Grade II*, and four (Bank of England, Brightlingsea, Gateshead, Malvern) at Grade II. As with Kingston, many of the memorials feature a bronze figure holding an object aloft, or a man one or two children, or both.
The memorial is topped by a large bronze sculpture, which depicts a nude warrior raising aloft a burning crucifix in his left hand, while his right holds a sword which he uses to strike a serpent. At his right side are two small children, whom he is protecting. [2] Goulden was particularly skilful at the depiction of children, another recurring theme in his work. An earlier example, from 1914, was the memorial to the feminist social reformer Margaret MacDonald at Lincoln's Inn Fields, itself Grade II listed. [8] [9] Cast into the base of the bronze sculpture are lines from the fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen ; "AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE / SUN AND IN THE MORNING / WE WILL REMEMBER THEM". [4]
The statue is mounted on a tall granite pedestal, which bears the inscription: "IN HONOUR OF / THE MEN OF THIS / TOWN WHO GAVE / THEIR LIVES IN / THE GREAT WARS / 1914 – 1919 / 1939 – 1945", and below that bronze plaques, which extend onto lower flanking granite wings, record the names of the 624 men of the town killed in the First World War. [10] The pedestal and wings stand on three granite steps, with bronze planters. The pedestal inscription was revised after the Second World War to include mention of the town's dead from that conflict, but the names of individuals were not inscribed on the memorial. [3] The bronze elements were cast at the A.B. Burton foundry at Thames Ditton (Goulden had made a bronze memorial sculpture for Burton's daughter Dolly, who died in 1908, which stands in Kingston Cemetery, and is also Grade II listed [11] ).
The memorial stands in a gated enclosure in a public garden, formerly an overflow burial ground for All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames. The ceremony of dedication for the Kingston memorial was held on 11 November 1923 and was led by Frederick George Penny, the town's member of parliament and later created 1st Viscount Marchwood. [2]
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, and is part of the London commuter belt. The town is also the post town, entertainment and commercial area of three adjoining communities : Merstham, Earlswood and Whitebushes, as well as of two small rural villages to the east in the Tandridge District, Bletchingley and Nutfield.
Joseph Hermon Cawthra (1886–1971), was an English monumental sculptor. During his lifetime he was considered among the leading classical sculptors working in Britain and received several commissions for public monuments, war memorials and architectural sculptures.
Richard Reginald Goulden (1876–1932) was a British sculptor operational in the early 20th century.
The Royal Fusiliers War Memorial is a memorial in London, dedicated to the members of the Royal Fusiliers killed in the World Wars, Russian Civil War and subsequent conflicts, along with members of a number of London Regiment battalions killed in the First World War. It consists of a bronze statue on a 16.5 feet (5.0 m) pedestal made of Portland stone.
Crewe War Memorial stands in the Municipal Square, in Crewe, Cheshire, England. It consists of a bronze sculpture of Britannia standing on a pedestal, itself on a square base. The sculptor was Walter Gilbert and the sculpture was cast in the foundry of H. H. Martin and Company. It was unveiled in 1924. The names of those killed in both world wars and in later conflicts are inscribed on bronze plaques around the base, and there are further inscriptions on the paving around the memorial. It originally stood in Market Square and was moved to Municipal Square in 2006. The memorial is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
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The Anglo-Belgian Memorial, also known as the Belgian Gratitude Memorial, Belgian Refugees Memorial, or the Belgian Monument to the British Nation, is a war memorial on Victoria Embankment in London, opposite Cleopatra's Needle. It was a gift from Belgium, as a mark of thanks for assistance given by the UK during the First World War, and in particular for sheltering thousands of Belgian refugees who fled from the war. It is a Grade II* listed building.
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.
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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.
St Michael Cornhill War Memorial is a First World War memorial by the entrance to the church of St Michael Cornhill, facing Cornhill in the City of London. The memorial became a Grade II* listed building in December 2016 ; the church itself is Grade I listed.
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.
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