Twickenham War Memorial

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Twickenham War Memorial
United Kingdom
Twickenham War Memorial, London (cropped).jpg
For men from the district of Twickenham who died in the First and Second World Wars
Unveiled1921
Location 51°26′25″N0°19′54″W / 51.4402°N 0.3317°W / 51.4402; -0.3317
Designed by Mortimer Brown
1914–1918 TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY OF THE MEN OF TWICKENHAM WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE AND TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR OF 1939–1945
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameTwickenham War Memorial
Designated5 June 2017
Reference no. 1445040

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.

Contents

Site

The area around Richmond had been a favoured site for wealthy Londoners to construct country houses since medieval times. Cherry and Pevsner note that, after Westminster, "no other London borough has a greater wealth of major palaces and mansions than Richmond upon Thames". [1] Edward III died at his palace at Sheen in 1377. [2] Henry VII replaced that building with Richmond Palace, which was further developed by his son Henry VIII until the latter gained possession of the even grander Hampton Court Palace in 1525. [3] In the 18th century the area saw the development of more modest riverside retreats for the aristocracy and the upper classes. [4] Among the earliest, dating from 1724, was Marble Hill House, designed by Roger Morris for the Countess of Suffolk. [5] Alexander Pope was a regular visitor to Marble Hill and built his own villa nearby. These villas were firstly constructed in a Palladian style, echoing the villas of the Veneto, [6] but by the mid-century early examples of the Gothic Revival began to appear, most notably Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill House. [7] A lesser Gothic example was Radnor House, [8] the grounds of which now form part of Radnor Gardens. [9]

History and description

The park in which the memorial stands was formed from the grounds of Radnor House and Cross Deep House by Twickenham Urban District Council in 1903. [9] At the end of the First World War, in common with many local authorities, the council decided to erect a war memorial to commemorate the dead of the district. The sculptor Mortimer Brown won a design competition in 1920 and was commissioned to undertake the work. [10] Brown had trained at the Hanley School of Art and the National Art Training School, followed by study at the Royal Academy Schools. [11]

The memorial represents a life-size soldier, cast in bronze by the Singer & Sons foundry. [12] The figure is depicted walking in service dress and greatcoat, holding a rifle in one hand, with the other hand lifting up a cap to wave above his head. The statue is unusual for showing a "joyful returning soldier, in contrast to the more conventional attitudes of watchfulness or mourning". [10] The Cambridge War Memorial has a similar composition of a soldier marching home cheerfully holding a helmet, and the Lancashire Fusiliers Boer War Memorial in Bury, Greater Manchester, is an earlier example of a memorial sculpture of a soldier holding aloft his headgear in celebration. (Both are listed at Grade II.)

The main statue stands on a tall square plinth of Portland stone, which has bronze plaques set in four sides and a dedicatory inscription on the south side which was amended after the Second World War to recognise the dead of Twickenham in that conflict. [10] Three of the bronze plaques are figurative relief sculptures showing: three airmen (to the west); two women, one a nurse and the other a Voluntary Aid Detachment volunteer (north); and two naval officers and a rating (east). The plaque commemorating the contribution of women to the war effort is "uncommon". [10] The naval plaque was stolen in 2011 [13] and the current plaque is a replacement installed in 2012. [14] The borough's coat of arms appears on small bronze plaque on the south side of the plinth, above the inscription: 1914–1918 / TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY / OF THE MEN OF TWICKENHAM / WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR / THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE / AND TO THOSE / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES / IN THE WAR OF / 1939–1945.

The memorial was sited to form a vista towards the Star and Garter Home for disabled servicemen, previously located on Richmond Hill to the northeast. [12] It was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Robertson, 1st Baronet, on 2 November 1921, at a ceremony attended by a band from the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall nearby and a large crowd sheltering under umbrellas against the continuous rain. The memorial was designated a Grade II* listed structure on 5 April 2017. [10]

See also

References and sources

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twickenham</span> Town in Greater London, England

Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames 9.9 miles (15.9 km) southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the borough council's administrative headquarters are located in the area.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asgill House</span> Residential in England, UK

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radnor House</span>

Radnor House was an English 17th-century house on the banks of the River Thames in Cross Deep, Strawberry Hill, London, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of Twickenham town centre. It was destroyed by a bomb in 1940, and the remains of house and grounds form part of present-day Radnor Gardens. Bro just shush nobody cares abt this flippity tippity builing u poo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radnor Gardens</span>

Radnor Gardens is a small public riverside garden and recreation ground in Strawberry Hill, south of Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It has a First World War memorial, a grass area, a bowling green and a children's playground.

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Pope's villa was the residence of Alexander Pope at Twickenham, then a village west of London in Middlesex. He moved there in 1719 and created gardens and an underground grotto. When Baroness Howe of Langar (1762–1835) purchased the house, she demolished it in 1808 and built a new house next to the site. The house and grotto were topics of 18th- and 19th-century poetry and art. In about 1845, a neo-Tudor house known as Pope's Villa was built on approximately the same site; it has been used as a school since the early 20th century. Pope's Grotto, which is listed Grade II* by Historic England, survives and is occasionally open to the public.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Sheen Cemetery</span> Church

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston upon Thames War Memorial</span>

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.

References

  1. Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 461.
  2. Ormrod 1990, p. 52.
  3. Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 483.
  4. Harris 1994, p. 105.
  5. Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 540.
  6. Tavenor 1991, p. 155.
  7. Clark 1962, p. 57.
  8. Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 520.
  9. 1 2 "Radnor Gardens today". radnorgardens.org.uk. Friends of Radnor Gardens. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "Twickenham War Memorial (Grade II*) (1445040)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  11. "Mortimer John Brown". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951. University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Men of Twickenham". www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk. War Memorials Online. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  13. "Metal thieves target war memorial". BBC News. 26 October 2011.
  14. "Men Of Twickenham". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 6 January 2020.

Sources